Monday, September 26, 2011

The great flood...

So I woke this morning, at 2:30 am, to a partially flooded house.

Apparently the storm rolling through last night dropped 3-5 inches of rain in just an hour. This morning, several roads were closed due to flooding, so yah...it's not like I got the worst of it. (thank you!)

So let me tell you how much fun that was at 2:30 in the morning.

I lie. It was not much fun at all. I spent several hours mopping up water and basically just hoping that was the last of it. sigh. and being grateful that we have concrete floors and not carpeting. because omeyegawd...what kind of disaster would that have been!

In the morning light...after only a few hours of sleep...I...well, I was cranky. But this afternoon, I just kind of started feeling very "meh" about the whole thing. I mean, really, what do you do? We live in a basement apartment. weather happens.

Deep breath. sigh.

It made me evaluate though.

Had to get the computers and the cameras up to slightly higher ground. Make sure all the electrical cords are up so they don't get waterlogged and become useless.  Books. Shoes.

There is a part of me that sometimes craves simplicity. How I would love to be a minimalist...but my book collection alone makes that nearly impossible. How do people do it? I am in awe.

Phone. Books. Computer. Camera. External hard drive. Photos. Shoes. and my Honey Bear (teddy bear) a gift from my sister when I was 3.

It's all material...but it means so much!

Prompt #74: What would you save?

2 comments:

Cathy C. Hall said...

Is time a factor? I'm always surprised that people, when in a mad rush, will grab the most peculiar things. It's always so sad to see someone outside their house after a tornadoe, holding a brush. Proving, I suppose, that when it really comes down to it, it's all just...things.

BUT, if I had time to grab a thing or two, I'd probably put my rings on ('cause I don't wear them while I'm working or sleeping)and my laptop. And I'd run get my hubby's meds 'cause I know he'd forget! :-)

Christina Donnelly said...

I always worried about my body of work. Whenever the fire alarm goes off in my building (always a false alarm), I would grab shoes, coat, money - 2 mins of loading up each time. I swear some day, if it were the real deal, I'd be dead before I was ready to evacuate.

But somehow I never remembered the most precious of irreplacables, my writing portfolio, not even a thumb drive. So, my techie daughter hooked me up with Dropbox. Now I'm gradually working on storing every poem, every grant application "up there," accessible from any computer I want, including the library's. This solution came in really handy last Fall, when my laptop's operating system kept crashing. I managed to meet my NYFA deadline with no stress and was able to pick up my working drafts right where I'd left off.