Shedding Light on the Family Tree

Daily Prompt: Burning Down the House

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Todays’ prompt asks what five things we would save if our house was burning down, assuming that people and animals are safe.

So, what five things would I save if my house was burning down?

I pray this is something I never experience.  Still, for the purposes of this exercise I’ve prepared the following list of irreplaceable (or hard to replace) items I would likely reach for first in the event of a house fire.

1. Personal documents … ie. passport, birth certificate, etc. … they’re an important part of my identity and, frankly, I wouldn’t want to deal with government bureaucracy to replace all of this after experiencing such a trauma. Fortunately I know where I store these items so they’re easy to retrieve.

2. My computer hard drive … I don’t trust “cloud” technology so I don’t save anything to it. All my writing and photography is saved in my computer. Oh … we do back it all up on the Apple Time Machine. Do I just save that instead? Hmmm … I don’t know. Maybe I need to give this some further thought.

3. Genealogical records/family photos … all safely stored in two boxes. Why I would want to save them particularly I’m not sure. I have no children to pass them along to when I leave this mortal coil. Still, I do have extended family out west and since I’ve traced parts of the family tree back to 15th century Europe I believe it’s worth hanging on to for handing over at a future time. The old photos are a fascinating record of my predecessors and the times they lived in, as well.

4. All original artwork … and, the print of “The Arab Tent” by Edwin Landseer that my mother gave me when I was a little girl. This beautiful print in its gold-painted antique frame has had a place on a wall somewhere in my house ever since (even after several moves!), and means the world to me. (See my blog post A Childhood Gift)

5.  My hardcover collection of Taylor Caldwell books … though a controversial figure in her time she was a prolific and accomplished writer and supreme storyteller. (Captain and the Kings among her most famous works.) Her evocative books captured my imagination and helped to formulate my own writing style. Since Ms. Caldwell’s books are no longer in print and I have a fairly comprehensive collection of her works, I would be most upset to lose them.

So, there you have it. For the purposes of today’s prompt this is what I think I would save if my house was on fire. Still, I hope I am never in the terrible position of having to answer this burning question for real.

Thanks for visiting,

Dorothy

©Dorothy Chiotti … Aimwell CreativeWorks 2015