Take a wide stance and point out what counts in your life. (This is hubby pointing to Notre Dame's Cathedral -- our twentyfifth anniversary trip to France after forty years of marriage. Some things can be postponed only so far!
Some passions will motivate you for decades.
Some, will break your heart right away.
If you don't know what you can't live without, then you have not taken a good inventory.
Take a look around you.
If you had ten minutes to escape an impeding disaster, what would you take?
Your mother's broach, your father's book, your children's pictures, your writing, your money......
What?
What would you miss the most?
That's how you find what really counts for you.
41 comments:
We went to Paris a few years ago, I know how you feel. What a precious memory. Gosh I wish I could live in Paris for a few months a year. Swoon. I would take the dogs (of course) my laptop, and a letter opener that belonged to my mother.
wow, very simple way to look at it. 10 minutes...hmmm
That message is from elizabeth bradley. Don't ask me why the heck it says Vizloops!
...and as embarrassing as it sounds, my computer! during my self imposed shut-in i have met the most marvelous people in bloggerland! i'd been through so much trauma that i'd pretty much lost my creativity, my wit, my joy of expressing myself through writing. but something wonderful began to blossom again through blogging.
what else would i take? daughter and grands, wouldn't want to be without them!
Wonderful post!
Aloha from Waikiki, Friend
Comfort Spiral
yeah, thats some good stuff...i know what mine are and i am trying to get back there...
10 Minutes?
Wow.
Myself, my pets, my glasses (blind as a bat without my glasses.)
Everything else is material. I am not sentimental.
However, if you gave me an hour ...
My family. Never mind the rest it can be replaced eventually.
OH yes, and my daughters three cats, they can't live without.
If they were within reach, I obviously would grab my daughter, grandsons, and dogs. If they were at their house and I was home alone and only had ten minutes, and had use of my car for escape: my three dogs, my embroidered wall clock that I spent countless hours on,and my purse which has everything in it except food to get me thru anything! (I used to say photos as well, but now most are online.)
10 Minutes. Dog, laptop, Bible, purse, camera. Not necessarily in that order. Maybe I could live without the camera.
How lovely that you had your anniversay trip to Paris! Congratulations.
Photos ..although these days most of them are online too ..
I have lots of nice things around me that I like but nothing that would matter losing.
Might be handy to have my phone and my camera ..
All that counts are beautiful memories and loving everyone in my today. xxx
The only thing I would take is my wallet and my mobile, so I can have a way of contacting my boyfriend and getting myself to immeditate safety. And practical shoes and a warm coat. The impulse is to survive to love another day.
very thoughtful post.
I would make certain my son Carl was OK and with me. Everything else can be replaced. I would still have photos in my mind and heart ....
I personally think that health is what really counts......
However if I really had to choose material things, I'd go for my children's photos at an early age. These cannot be replaced.
Maggie X
Nuts in May
all excellent choices!! it does sort of freak me out a bit to think that there might be some end of the world scenario and my daughter would be two hours away at her dads. i wouldn't be able to get to her. i don't even like to imagine it!
I'd look for the people in my life first!!!! Then, worry about the stuff after...Your posts are always so thought-provoking Rosaria! I LOVE this one especially!!! Love, Janine XO
Good point, and like you two, my dh and I visited Paris and Notre Dame Cathedral. Let's be honest, we are taking no possessions with us on our last trip, to Glory.
Photo albums and our kitty cat would be on our list to grab.
My girl. That's it. I've lost enough to know that stuff doesn't matter.
It's a lesson I've been trying to pay close attention to of late.
Great thoughts. Thank you.
The journals I've written for my children, my laptop (should scan all photos in there). My cat. Although that might take all ten minutes to get her out from under the bed. Hmmmmm.
I loved Paris. And Ste. Chapelle so much more than Notre Dame. I love to live there for a while. Hmmmm, again.
Ten minutes to escape? Wife, dog, computer (for my people contacts, pictures, and writing), wallet (identification, etc.), medications (sadly), and a coat or blanket to go. Maybe my dad's pocket watch. And make sure our kids and grandkids were going to be OK. Anything else could be replaced, or wouldn't need to be replaced.
Great question. Thanks.
This really happened to a friend of mine recently, she was in the floods in the Lakedistrict. She took her dog. Nothing much is important to me except my friends and family.
Well, I'd like to have my three sons with me but they'd probably all be living apart from me ( I could go to their places, huh? ). I think I'd grab my laptop, cell phone and purse, mainly. Gosh, no eyeshadow or anything. Oh, well, it's all material stuff...and I'm already 65, bound for the happy hunting grounds before long.
Thought-provoking post, Rosaria...thanks for the reminder about what's really important.
Like MidLife JobHunter, I preferred St. Chapelle to Notre Dame in Paris, too.
So glad you and hubby could get away for the anniversary trip. Better late than never!!!!
hmmmm.....10 minutes! well, a material thing might have to be my cell phone to be able to locate all my kids who are spread cross country - and my laptop also for communication purposes and photos that are downloaded - but nothing other than my children and theirs and theirs matters to me -
thanks so much for your visits to my places!
This is a good question, Rosaria. What can't I live without? I can't live without love, hope, meaningful activity, some measure of self-esteem. I'm blessed with those through family, spiritual faith, fellowship, and God-given abilities.
The rest is just stuff. I have way too much of that. Sure, I enjoy the connection with my roots represented by my grandmother's quilts, my great-grandfather's library table, the other irreplaceable passed-down things. But I could live without them.
I'm not sure what I would take in that 10 minutes. I haven't looked through the old photo albums in a long time. Surely I could live without those, thanks to the memories stored in my head.
My laptop, where all my poetry is stored, would be first, I think. Next would be rounding up my pets, simply because they are dependent on me, not because I couldn't live without them. My husband, of course, would be doing that. That would leave me free to grab my camera and the file of birth certificates, just because it's easy to get to.
Then I'd call my family to see if they needed help. And I would get my disaster money out of its hiding place, throw it in my purse with the cell phone, and get the heck out.
Assuming all people and animals are safe? I'd grab the books off my special shelf as they are inscribed to me and irreplaceable. And, I'd grab my external hard drive holding all my music and photographs. Yup - I'd save the memories. Every single time.
My laptop - that contains my photos, my novel, and a way to contact my friends.... that's my life. Everything else is window dressing.
Sounds like a wonderful anniversary trip! Paris is so romantic!
Next to family members, I would take my big leopard suitcase, which is always packed with everything that I might need for a week, in the event of a mandatory evacuation. Guess the hurricanes have taught us to do that. And of course my laptop, and my purse, which would have my camera and my phone in it. :)
Memories.
Hmmm, I need to think about this. It's a very good thing to think about.
That is a tough one. Prob have the girls & Sergio help me gather the critters and we'd be good to go! Lets just pray we are never in that situation!
This is a thought provoking post. I enjoyed reading all the comments. I have to think about this one some more.
The boss ;-)
Wizz
Aww.. happy anniversary. And Paris is the perfect place to be.
I'd take my kids' photos with me.
I would take my glasses, my most comfortable shoes, ipod, camera and my computer.
Jeez. I am so electronic!
thank you for your kind words the other day on our anniversary post...you gave me smiles. i hope that you and yours are having a great memorial weekend.
Yes, some things are important, most aren't. Most important to me are children, grandchildren, beloved relatives and friends. I'd want all of them to be safe in an emergency.
What a wonderful post. A beautiful photograph. Forty years of marriage!! Congratulations. Yes, some things you don't want to postpone.
my life...
that was my first thought after reading this post.
love the way you write
x robyn
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