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
