She's a manager at a family-run Italian restaurant. Someone messed up my order, so she stopped to apologize and offer a free gelato for dessert. She asked about my job. When she found out what I did, she told me her story.
I'll skip the details, but this young woman lost absolutely everything. Everything. When she described the loss of her home and possessions, she was stoic. But the tears came when she spoke of her three dogs.
That was the piece she concentrated on, and cried about--her beloved pets. She detailed the personalities of each of them: one shy, one overprotective, one playful. After 20 months of living in a FEMA trailer, she cried about those dogs.
I went home and hugged Quincy.
10 comments:
About a week after the storm, my Mom began having thoughts of suicide. I took her immediately to the emergency room where we had evacuated to (out of state). A nurse assessed her and asked her what was wrong. My Mom told how her home of 25 years was gone but she couldn't live without the post-it note reminders that she had left stuck to her computer monitor.
Des, I'm so sorry about your mom's sorrows. But that is really something. I can see myself saying the same thing about my "to do" list. Hope she's doing well now.
Like I always say...STUFF is STUFF and Bricks and Mortar and carpet can all be replaced. But love is everything, whether for your family & friends or for your pets. I am sorry for her loss, and hope she is finding her way to recovery with the rest of the area. I hope that your friends mom is now feeling better too, and someone has given her a nice gift baskets of post its, though I am sure she was far more worried over the info they contained.
Maybe Des will come back and tell us how her Mom is now doing.
And Cindy, you are so right. I'll go back to the restaurant every now and then to see the gal and see how she's doing. Must run now. Just finished a radio interview and have to get back to a conference.
I always worry about house fires and stuff like that. One thing I could not bear to lose (besides my family of course!) is all of my pictures....that's where so many of my memories are. I keep negatives and discs with all of my pictures on them in a fire proof safe. I just feel better that way. It would definitely be hard losing something of sentimental value or a pet. And I know Andrea would understand this, I wouldn't run out of the house without grabbing my purse!!
That's really smart, Kelly. I have to develop a hurricane kit (in a bag, box, tub, waterproof trunk, whatever).
I'm trying to decide what to put in it besides the emergency stuff like food, water, dog food, crank flashlight, crank radio, important papers, and so on. It's not easy.
You're right about the purse Kelly!
Thank you for your comments about my Mom. She is doing much better. Their home has been rebuilt. I have an argument for the "stuff is stuff" mentality that people like to jump in with but here and now is not the time to get that deeply into it. For me, personally, my baby and childhood pictures were the hardest to lose as well as my senior yearbook. I have a beautiful picture I took at my grandmother's house. She had 4 feet of water in her home. She had those magnetic page photo albums which actually protected the photographs. They were wet, of course, but she removed each page and hung it on the clothesline to dry out. I should post it in my journal. Thanks again.
Thanks for stopping by again, Des, and for updating us on your mom.
I am glad to know that your friends mother is doing better, and she is right that everyone feels differently about 'things'. My own mother treasured things..all things. She not only lived through a house fire that took her home as a child, but a tornado in her early teens. She, like your friends mom, missed some of the strangest things, and rarely parted with anything. (I inherited EVERY greeting card she receieve since 1948) I can't seem to get rid of anything she treasured, but don't feel any attachment to any of my own(though I am sure I would feel differently, if I were faced with the loss of everything like my mom did)
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