Off The Beaten Path

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Georgia, United States
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our souls to dance. They awaken us to new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom. Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our lives for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never ever the same.

Sunday, September 7

Leaving Today for Effie

I should be in bed, it is 4:41 in the morning, but you know that I couldn't sleep if I were to go to bed, so I am going to stay up and work on things until I am exhausted and then sleep all day, and leave in the evening, so that I will get in to Effie in the morning. I do not want to be driving up in the dark. It will be a dangerous yard right now. I was told there are pieces of my house all over the yard. I had a box of baby dolls in the attic, and one is lodged in a tree. It is an eerie sight I guess, this little baby doll in a pink dress hanging from a tree. My neighbor thought at first it was someones baby. I guess it was a terrible tornado complete with the winds that sound like a freight train. My neighbor said that the lady across the street (whose house wasn't touched) watched the whole thing. She said the tornado hit the house and it shuddered on its foundation and then the roof came flying off. I can tell you that had to be some mighty force because that roof had 12x2 boards with nails as long as your hand, that had been hammered in over 100 years ago. A few years back when a tree took off a corner of the front porch, I tried to pull one of the nails out of the piece that fell into the yard, and I couldn't budge it no matter how hard I pried. And I am pretty strong.

I rented a storage unit today, to put anything that I find that I can bring home. I am expecting to have a few pieces of furniture left. If by some chance we can't get in, or everything is destroyed, well I won't need the storage unit or the moving truck. I should have moved everything out years ago. But I always had this dream that I would live there again. And I used to love to go home and spend a few weeks, it was my little get-a-way.

I loved the old cast iron bathtub that stayed warm for the longest time. Not like these little fiberglass tubs you get now, where the water cools off in 10 mins. I loved the water in that house, it was soft, and you felt like you had been bathing in skin softeners when you got out.

There were many, many things about the place that was wonderful. I remember sitting on the back porch looking out across the bath yard near sunset, and the beautiful colors that lit up the sky. The red birds would be feeding at the bird feeders and I would sit and drink my coffee and look out at the green grass, the stately oaks and the gorgeous sunset and think, there is no prettier place in this world. To lose that hurts me more than any possession.

We can never go back in time, we can't even go back into our own home and our own life, once we have left it, because time has a way of changing thing while we are away. But I guess nothing this drastic would ever happen. I felt about insurance on this house the way that I felt about insurance on a life. If it takes devastation in order to collect, I won't even care about the money. Money cannot replace what we have. There is no amount of money that can give me back that house the way it was with its 100 year old hardwood floors. To me the house had a soul, it had lived so many years, it had housed so many families. The walls concealed years of laughter, pain and sorrow, joys and jubilation. How can money replace that? So I just never bothered to insure the house. Silly I know.

9 comments:

Pete said...

Be Safe Honey. My thoughts are with you
Pete...;-)
XX

Libby said...

stay safe, and remember that we're all with you in our hearts!!

Bill ~ {The Old Fart} said...

Hope things are not as bad as you say, keeping you in thoughts and prayers

Cindy said...

I just read about your house for the first time this morning. I am so sorry to read about this loss! Can't imagine what it must be like for you- I know you loved the place dearly. I'm sure glad though that you weren't staying there when it happened. Hope that when you get there you will find lots of things to salvage. I'll be thinking of you.

QUASAR9 said...

Oops no insurance>
Wish I were there to help you rebuild.

Catch said...

wow Nea ~ I am so sorry to read this...I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers... I wish I was close by to help you. God bless.

Lo Kelween said...

maybe it's good for us to move forward. we need to progress. let bygones be bygones, but it's best to save those sweet memories in our RAM.

God bless, Nea :)

Lo Kelween said...

i love the way your layout look. if only I could learn to do it myself..haha

Cindy said...

Just stopping by to say hi and to see how things turned out for you in Effie...I hope you were able to salvage a lot of your things.