Counting my blessings

I took a sick day today to recover from a nasty flu bug that visited our home this weekend. It left both boys with ear infections and respiratory crud...not fun! On our way home from the doctor this afternoon, I noticed black/gray smoke coming from the direction of our neighborhood. Within a mile from our neighborhood, my heart started beating faster as I realized the smoke was obviously from a house fire, which was likely IN our neighborhood. As I turned onto our street my heart was racing...there were patrol cars and firetrucks lining the street. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief when I saw our home, still in one piece, but for a few minutes remained panic stricken...were we in danger? Could the wind cause other homes to catch fire? The house going up in flames was only five doors down. And then, like a ton of bricks, it hit me...a family had just lost their home, and all of their worldly possessions. What a fool I am to sometimes get caught up in the THINGS of this world...after all, in an instant, those things can be taken from us. And in the same rush of emotion, I felt overwhelmingly blessed...blessed to have a roof over our head, beds to sleep in, food in the fridge (and/or money for take-out), and warm water.

Just two months ago I learned of a mother in STILLWATER, who couldn't afford to pay her electric bill, and therefore had no heat to warm her mobile home...a mobile home that was void of any front door.

I've been preparing for the neighborhood-wide garage sale in April/May and have gone through most of the house stuffing boxes full of things we no longer use or need. After today's fire, I believe I'll make a second sweep...guessing I can fill twice as many boxes.

It's strange how large an impact that fire had on me. But it made me take a serious look at my priorities. And served as a reminder of what is most important. It also made me wonder what one thing I would grab if I only had time to save one thing from a fire. My one thing would be our computer, which stores our family photos. This is, of course, assuming we already had all of the formula and diapers we needed safely in our CRV.

To all my faithfull blog stalkers - What one thing would you save?