House Fire Takes Everything

     I had my post all ready for today but thought after yesterday I should change the subject. Actually I was in the middle of checking it to make sure everything was ready when I heard the sirens.  I live in a small neighborhood of around 25-30 homes, in a country setting out of the city. So when you hear sirens you know it’s coming into your neighborhood.  I went out the front of our house to see fire trucks and an ambulance driving by; my heart started thumping fast with fear and concern. I walk down the first step and look in the direction the vehicles were traveling and my heart sank. I saw a house with smoke coming out of the roof then realized I knew the family that lived in that house, their son and our son are very close friends.

     I ran down, hoping the whole way that no one in the house. The closer I got I could see the oldest child made it out fine. She told the firemen that she was the only one in the house, and her mom was on the way. Within a matter of seconds the house went from clouds of dark gray smoke to a few flames then it looked like a fire ball. All any of us could do at this point was stand there and cry, tears of relief that everyone was safe along with tears of their loss. There were two wonderful people who ran into the home, grabbing Christmas presents, trinkets and photos in the entry way. They lost everything clothes, electronics, furniture, the typical things most of us have in our homes.

     Having the love for genealogy, my family and our memories it took a few minutes to dawn on me but their memories were gone. Sure they have the memories in their hearts but the memories they can physically see, touch and share were gone. This is a special family and we have become very fond of their son.

     We have all scanned some of our family’s most treasured memories. All of the research we have done, on our families and maybe others. If something like this were to happen to my family I know that we wouldn’t have enough time to save everything. So I’ve decided to save everything now, right now. We have a fire proof safe in our home as I’m sure many of us do. As I said earlier I have scanned many documents, letters and photos. I will now make sure that my USB stick, with all of our memories and my research on it is kept that safe. I will only pull it out to backup and save any photos or research that I’m working on then return it directly back to the safe. Unfortunately this is a lesson that I have learned at someone else’s expense and hopefully many of you will follow.