I have had many endings that led to new beginnings, one of my was the house fire Dec. 17,1998′. That was a profound ending and a wonderful new beginning for all of my family.
Pics of the fire, I just scanned from the newspapers, so they are not too clear.
And this is me when the fire was raging.
After the fire we were left with virtually nothing, not a piece of clothing, not a toothbrush, not a comb or shampoo, nothing but the clothes on our backs.
We (family) were all left standing in a group by the burned down house; all the firetrucks had gone, all the reporters and TV camers were long gone and then the Red Cross Truck pulled in the driveway.
That blessed group; they had kits for us all with necessities for hygene, script to purchase clothing from a local store and offers of all kinds of help, plus reservations for a motel for one week.
The local paper had covered the fire and we were on the Front page for 2 days with our phone number and the name of our business and soon the donations from customers of our tree business and donations began flowing in.
Donations which included all the furniture that we would need to set up an apartment which we were able to rent from our landlord who owned apartment building in town. Dishes, pots, appliances, clothing, sundries, towels, sheets, everything you could possiblily think of came in a steady stream for weeks. An embarrasment of riches. We even had things to give away ourselves to those who had needs also.
My daughters school took up a collection from students and that amounted to $1300.00 collected in 2 days, made of of change, checks and cash. A long time customer gave us $2000.00.
All in all we received many thousands of dollars worth of items and cash and were able to resume a somewhat normal life in a very short time.
There were many changes we would go through in the next few years, not all of them pleasant, but had we not had that start it would have been far worse for us. It was also a way to shed ourselves of the vast amount of material goods that we had accumulated for the past 17 years, and with some exceptions, such as writings, photos, momentos, things like that, things we were quite willing to be rid of and start over.
In the intervening years I was able to acquire copies of some of the treasured brick a brac, including clothing, that I so dearly loved and indeed it was always a little eerie when I would come upon a similar item at the local thrift store
I did have one little personal glitch that came as a result of losing all of my beautiful clothes. To this day I cannot remember any clothing I have now, till I go to the closet and see it there.
Prior to the fire I had a complete inventory stored in my head.
Endings can lead to good beginning, one door closes and another door opens, you know, the circle of life.
What endings, beginnings or a combination would you care to share with us.
[Crossposted at Village Blue
Your strength of spirit and character continue to amaze me. Mighty proud to know you and count you as a friend.
Ah, you know I will have to say, ‘ah shucks’, to you, I appreciate those words.
Proud to count you as a friend of mine as well.
Thanks Diane for sharing. The material things are replaceable thank god you didn’t lose any family. I’m curious to know if you acquire differently since you had this experience?
Yes I do acquire differently. After the fire I wanted to replace certain things and they were generally the small things like the food processor I just loved, or small items of jewelry.
I have never built up an excess of material goods after either, you realize how little it takes to survive in this world and material goods just get in your way if you are excessive. I limit my possessions to what I can comfortably put in my living area, plus a few containers stored in our building.
My children who were young at the time have now started on their own acquisition of material goods road and they will have to have another epiphany to stop that I fear.
I once found a blog that I thought was a place where people respected one another’s opinions and engaged in civil discourse. In my mind it was a place where I could go to share my thoughts and test my theories of life against good-hearted fellow travelers. Then my blog-house caught on fire and all that was left after my illusions burned away was just another judgmental, non-respectful place. That was an ending.
I fled to a new blog-home and found diane101 and shirlstars and zander and BooMan and Susanhu and ManEegee and ghostdancers way and mrboma and bood and keres and MilitaryTracy and many more. A new beginning, indeed.
Thanks to you diane101, and everyone else here that makes this a great place to be.
I can only imagine what it must be like to be the diane101 in that picture, but I can admire you for surviving the fire with the dearest things left to you – your family, and the dignity with which you have moved on.
Thank you blueneck for your kind words.
Fires can happen to anyone, its really how you deal with the aftermath that makes the differenc.
Another family in the same county lost their house near to the same time and they did not fare so well after. They just couldn’t get over the loss of possessions, even though they owned their house and insurance would cover the whole thing, (we had no insurance it was rented and we couldn’t get coverage, due to the age of house, built in 1890.)
Local newspaper covered that other family a year after the fire and they were still bemoaning all they had lost and completely caught in the grip of that, barely able to go forward.
When being interviewed by the paper the day following our fire, my 16 yr. old son said “no we’re not too upset over the fire, “It’s not like we had Picassos in there.””
What we had were a bunch of antiques acquired in my antique business days, but still just possessions, they could be replaced in some form.
Other good news was that all business equipment/trucks, etc. for tree business was untouched so business went along as normal, just all records were gone.
Diane, that fire looks awful. So glad you and your family made it out okay.
Good time to remind everyone to check your smoke alarm batteries…and if you don’t have smoke alarms…GET THEM!
Yes do install smoke alarms, but they would not have helped in our fire.
The fire was started by insense I had lit (with a little flame on the tip), which fell over with a breeze that caught on a lampshade nearby. I was trapped in an enclosed outside area with locked gate. Fire was raging all around me, key to gate was inside house, which I could not enter, I had to break through fence to get out, minutes later I would not have made it.
This was a 14 room house and I was far on the one side, my kids were far on the other side, so I got out, ran around and got my kids out, forgot about our little birds with their babies thos, they did not make it.
We were in such shock we never thought of turning on a hose, firemen took 10 min. to get there and by then the middle of the house was engaged.
In reflection after, we realized that we could have saved many things on the far side of the house if we had known the whole house would burn. We thought they would put it out in just the one room it started in. We would have been in no danger to take the computer out on the opposite side.
All the christmas presents I had bought burned and that ticked me off, you know Christmas shopping I have never liked that much and now my early bird work was gone. We ended up Christmas shopping on the eve before the day.
Diane — so glad that no one was hurt. My husband and I have often talked of buying a fireproof box for things we couldn’t bear to lose in a fire, maybe we should get ON that, eh?
Part of the bankruptcy paperwork is to go through and do a household goods inventory…I really don’t want to know about all of the crap we have accumulated, but we have to write it all down…I’ll include it in my next installment of “The Road to Banruptcy”.
…endings beginings endings beginings…. like a beautiful mobius strip it goes…..
Oh yes by all means do not only buy a fireproof box for important papers, etc., but store it somewhere else, other than your house.
We had one and couldn’t even find it after the fire. At the end of the fire the firemen pushed down what was left standing because of the danger, so there was virtually nothing we could recover, and there certainly was nothing we could identify as a strong box.
Gas stove exploded, fridge doors blew off, with my just bought honey baked ham thrown out into the yard.
The business computer and and other office things were at the end of the house that burned last but while not too damaged by fire was destroyed by water. Clothes that survived in the dryer, could never be worn because of the smoke smell you just can’t get out.
Copy all important computer info onto disks and store them at relatives houses or safety deposit boxes. Make an extra copy of your pics. and send them off to someone(friend, relative) to store for you. I would have no pics at all if it were not for ones sent to relatives during all those years.
Treasured mementos should be handled in the same way, I had memory boxes for all my kids, gone. If you have children old enough and living on their own, give to them all mementos you would want them to have.
Life is so fragile – thank God you made it out safely, Diane, along with your children! It’s been great to hear you in this place, with our limited visions of each other. How much more important you are to your family! it is little wonder that this is a milestone that shapes your emotions and memory into before and after.
The big losses and tragedies are terrible, and hard to relate in a way that you have done so well. Those small things, those pictures, mementos, personal items of your kids, family, friends, past times together. They mean so much, don’t they?
I recall well the big flood year of 1993 – which really began for me some dozen or so years earlier. I was a newly hatched teacher, and when I least expected it, I had a tumor. Medical stuff followed. Most likely no kids, I was told, a prediction that proved to be accurate. So, my students from that time have always felt a little like the children I would never have. They made me ornaments by hand for my Christmas tree (a room mother suggestion while I was out – wouldn’t happen today.)
I left public school teaching very quickly to go to grad school. Those children were among the few that I taught. Their ornaments hung on my tree every year, until 1993, when rising floods in the Mississippi basin reached the town where we lived. We weren’t in any personal danger from the rising waters, but our basement flooded. All those little ornaments, stored there, were destroyed.
It still pains me to decorate the tree for the holidays.
I wrote this poem years before the fire, but the ‘concept’ which was my deeply held belief was one thing the got me through this. I knew in the end, the final result, all things rest in the memory and physical things can come and go. This poem, even more now than before the fire, espouses my view of life.
So I can say that the full measure of my life lies not in possessions but rather in the memories I retain.
I would suggest to you that when you do your tree this year, bring back all those memories and treasure them for they are worth far more than any memento can ever. Be happy and rejoice that you have the memory!
My life
Life’s little moments grow,
How I don’t know.
Out of bits of this and pieces of that perhaps!
I want to sow and I want to grow,
All the little seeds of my life,
Pull the weeds and till the soil
And in the fall reap the harvest once sowed.
Treasures past and moments gone,
Like rivers flowing to the sea,
Become one with God’s great eternity.
The sun arises and sets each day,
And my life begins and ends that way.
To light my life with living full
and leave but not a deed undone,
that is my quest,
and not to miss this moment lest,
It leaves my life with emptiness
That is why, these moments with you I treasure,
For soon they will be gone,
with the flick of a feather.
Would that I could hold them close to me,
Clutch them tightly to my breast,
But alas, I can only hold them forever,
Resting in my memory.
Diane101, 1985
That’s wonderful, thanks!