We had 7" of rain in a few hours a few nights ago. Naturally, the basement flooded and we lost quite a few things.
Among the things that are not salvageable are hundreds of photos, Mary's ultrasound pictures, precious books including the last book my dad gave me, and the guest book from my wedding, which doesn't bother me except that Dad wrote something funny in it.
Of course, I was melancholy. I mean, no one likes to see irreplaceable mementos in the garbage can. It made me even more melancholy to see our entire alley filled with other peoples' boxes, furniture, books, and mementos.
People expressed sympathy, which is of course the right and polite thing to do.
No one would ever call me a sentimentalist, and maybe I purposely make myself that way. At any rate, I do not get attached to things, and I'm glad. What good does it do to obsess over the loss of a thing? We have no time machine to change the past. I could obsess about a book or a signature, but why? It's gone. What no flood can take is the knowledge that my dad loved me very much.
A minor flood is hardly cause for gnashing of teeth. When I posted on Facebook about the flood, a friend of mine responded how sorry he was, and then proceeded to tell me how his grandmother and two aunts had lost everything in Hurricane Katrina, and that his aunts were never even allowed to return home. They salvaged a handful of pictures, but that was literally all that remained of their life before the storm.
How dreadful to lose such a large part of your life.
And yet, there were people who lost not just their families' possessions but their actual families in Katrina.
There are mothers in Haiti making their children dirt cakes just to fill their stomachs and stop their constant crying from hunger. There is always, always someone worse off.
No matter what is taken from you, after the dust settles, it's a good idea to remember to give thanks for how very much we (especially we Westerners) have, and to pray for those who have nothing. Think you're having a bad day? Every 3.6 seconds a human being dies from starvation. 75% of those human beings are children. Perspective: I lost some books.
Empathy can go a long way towards alleviating attachment to things.
7 comments:
Amen, sista!
And I just posted about how I'm frantically looking for some THINGS/STUFF ;)
I think I may need to read this daily for the rest of my life. Thank you.
Aw, M, I'm all for looking for lost stuff! My post was more about perspective than things. I was once told that while sitting in traffic, we should pray for the people in Purgatory, because their waiting is so much worse than ours. In the same way, praying for others when we are experiencing loss is a good practice. So keep right on hitting up St. A.
Glad you liked it, L!
For some reason, this post brings me to tears. I do tend to attach myself to photo because they help me remember the past, so I am so sorry for you losses.
Your post is amazing in helping me in so many ways. The whole waiting/purgatory thing really hit home as I feel like we are in the endless wait for another baby. I now have something specific to offer my sufferings up for...the poor souls in purgatory!
Great post! I learned this lesson more than a decade ago when I lost a stuffed duck given to me by my grandmother who died when I was little, and whose death I took *very* hard. That duck became my link to her all those years, or at least I thought. But when things like that are gone for good you have to move on, there's no choice, and you learn it's not your link to them. You still have the memories, with or without the item.
Thanks for the great reminder! And about waiting/purgatory and those who have it worse. My little complaints are ridiculous in light of the famine in Somalia, that's for sure.
I never consider myself a sentimental either - until something I'm attached to is gone. 'Sorry about your stuff, but yes, I am exponentially sorry for the situation in Somolia. On a silly note, we only get 7 inches of rain in an entire year here in Phoenix. Our stuff get's ruined in other ways...like getting cooked for example.
You Rock Cathy. Aw man Mary's u/s pics. I remember them from the WWW.
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