by Cheryl, Gulf Coast Poet

Valued Possessions

Photo by Kelly Sikkema from Unsplash.

Valued Possessions

Forest

fire! Flames creeping

down the mountainside.

Air smells smokey in our yard.

We load our car with our treasures…

Fifteen photo albums,

our life story…

valued!

Forest

fire extinguished!

Smoke and fear dissipate.

We unpack our car with smiles and

new insights of what we value…

Family history,

daughter’s childhood…

valued!

Copyright© 2021 by Cheryl Batavia

One Saturday about forty years ago, when my husband was at work, my young daughter, Ellen, and I watched fire and smoke moving down the mountainside toward our house. We packed our car with something irreplaceable…our photo albums. My fifty-two-year-old daughter still has those albums, memories of her childhood.

An Album of Childhood

Photo by Joice Kelly from Unsplash.
Photo by Romina Veliz from Unsplash
Photo by Josh Applegate from Unsplash.
Photo by NeonBrand from Unsplash.

Photo by Deb Dowd from Unsplash.

Photo by Prince Abid from Unsplash.
Photo by Robert Collins from Unsplash.

50 Comments

    1. Thank you, Ingrid, for sharing your thoughts. When selecting photos for this post, I considered using a photo of a forest fire, but I thought about the people in California and what they have endured and just couldn’t bring myself to do that. I watched a documentary about a plan to restore forests in the western US to health. They are using controlled burns to thin the forests as nature did before we started putting out all fires. I hope this helps!

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    1. Thank you, Cindy, for your kind response. ❤ I thought of you when I was writing this post. I saw a documentary a few days ago about plans to use extensive controlled burns to thin western forests as Mother Nature used to do before humans put out all fires. Native Americans used such methods to manage forests. I hope it works! What is your opinion?

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      1. It’s my pleasure Cheryl and I totally agree with this. So kind of you to think of me as I share your sentiments. It is a well know fact that control burns can be helpful… well at least to us… 🤷‍♀️! 💖🌷❤️

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  14. A critical reminder of what treasures are important – had a wakeup call many years ago and took the time to convert all the old pictures we cared about to digital and parked them in the cloud. At least that worry now addressed.

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  17. a pending disaster sets our priorities straight very quickly … most people who lost it all in a fire/flood claim those family memories, photos and letters are the most emotionally devastating … things that can never be replaced! Now with digital cameras and cloud storage these memories will always be available 🙂

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    1. Protecting our memories is one great advantage of technology, Kate. Thank you for pointing that out. I had a box full of old photos scanned, and still have a few in the garage I could get scanned onto a disc. I feel very sad for those who lost their photos and other irreplaceable mementos in natural disasters. Have a lovely day! ❤

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  18. Lovely poem Cheryl 💖 and so true!
    We recently lost few old photos in some albums to moisture, they were stored in a cupboard and got affected. So can perfectly relate to your message.

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