A Lesson About Stuff

Five months.

Five months we've waited for this day. Moving day.

We bought the house in June and then ripped it apart. Basically. Mostly. Messily.

We've had dozens of workmen crawling over every inch of the house - electricians, sheet rockers, painters, tilers, carpet layers - like ants scurrying over an ant hill.

Moving day kept getting pushed back. The granite is delayed. The painters can't paint until the tiler is done. The tiler can't get done until the electrician is done. You know how it is - everything has to be done at the precise time, in the precise order, or it doesn't get done.

November 11 is finally set to be "THE" day - moving day. Arrangements are made with the movers - the boxes are packed - and we can hardly sleep the night of November 10th because our minds are racing. The movers are scheduled to arrive at 8:00 am - and the Drama Queen will be handling this move by herself because hubby is going to work.

And then - November 11 arrives with a phone call at 5:30 am. The Red Cross. There's a major apartment fire.

Are you kidding me?!

I've blogged about it before. Unfortunately, we can't schedule disasters. We don't get to plan ahead and put them on our calendars. And such is the life of a Red Cross volunteer.

At first I said no. How could I possibly go assist the families when the movers were coming at 8:00 am?

And then - a thought. All I was dealing with, was stuff. How could I possibly put my stuff ahead of people who just lost all of their stuff in the fire....? Because that's all it is, when you get down to it. It's stuff. My stuff is all packed in nice, taped, cardboard boxes. Labeled. Organized. Ready to move.

The families who lived in the apartment? Their stuff is gone. Burnt to ashes. History. Poof.

I called hubby. He totally understood. He rushed home to be with the movers so that I could go assist the families.

I think I made the right decision. Shouldn't people always be more important than stuff? I had just blogged about it yesterday - and so this was a chance to put my words into action and do the right thing.

I hope I did.

Peace.