Holli Rausch

Inspired by World News with Charlie Gibson and Jackie’s posts about the EF-5 tornado to hit Iowa, it’s made me wonder what one thing I would search for in the wreckage of my home (or save, if time allows to grab it).  As someone who’s so fearful of severe weather I can’t even look outside during a storm, I’m surprised I’ve never really thought hard about it before. A few items have come to mind. As I write this post, I haven’t made my decision so I’m going to write out things I’d like to save and any explanation behind it or a reason for it not being the ‘one item’. I think by the time I finish it, I’ll have an answer.

• Photos/Wedding photos – While these are sentimental, they are archived online with Flickr. While it would be time consuming and painful to reprint and redownload to my computer, they’re safe and sound.
• Wedding ring – Chances are, it wouldn’t be off my finger, but if it were, it is covered by insurance.
• My grandmothers’ jewelry – Sentimental items more for the sake of passing on to daughters, but finding something from both grandmothers that can travel through history would be worth it.
• Camera – To document the story for a grieving outlet and for remembering.
• iMac – It’s one of our most prized possessions because it’s really the first large item we bought together. We unplug it when there’s a threat of severe weather, so it would be easy to grab.
• Our backup drive – While losing our iMac would be very sad, it’s covered by insurance. Losing our data would be more sad, because you can’t just buy your files and time back with your insurance check.
• Haji – We took her with us to safety the last time weather threatened, but only because time was on our side. Admittedly, she’s not first on my list since she came with her owner by default.
• Cell phone – Not only to see if others are OK or to have others be able to reach me to see if we’re OK, but to have for neighbors who don’t have a way of getting hold of their family. I probably would already have it, and if not, someone would.

Of all these items, and I’m sure I’ve missed some since I didn’t put a lot of thought into it, I’d probably go for the backup drive. I have a lot of files I’d miss if tragedy struck us, because my passion is design – and losing my archive of what I’ve done would be nearly devastating. I’m sure it would be for Miles, too. We should have a backup somewhere other than our home, but we don’t, and so that is why it wins.  Severe weather predicted for today…

What would be the one item you’d search for (or save)?