The Burning House - day 3

It took me quite a while to decide what I would run and rescue if our house were burning.   This came at a good time as we are currently downsizing and are almost empty nesters.  We’ve made so many memories in this house, but in the end, what’s inside of it is ‘things’.  The people and the memories are what we carry with us.  Our pictures and documents are backed up off site.  The following items hold a lot of personal meaning for me.  No insurance policy can replace them.

Name: Anita Tymburski
Location:  Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
Occupation:  Interior Designer

1. Teddy Bear.   Handmade Mother’s Day gift from our 18 year old son 11 years ago.
2. My grandparents wedding gloves, tie, boutonnière and Christmas card – 1939.
3. Suitcase of pictures.  Including my grandmother’s baby picture of me, my mother’s well-loved porcelain doll, my parents wedding proofs and my mother’s report cards and pictures up till she married.  This was recently given to me and I haven’t digitized them yet.
4. Painting.  A watercolour picture of my garden painted on a scrap piece of wood by our 21 year old daughter 15 years ago.
5. My MacBook Pro.  Our lives are in there!
6. Inuit sealskin Ootpik and soapstone sculpture.  Souvenirs from when my family lived in the Northwest Territories of the Canadian Arctic – early 1970’s.
7. Metal sculpture.  Our 20 year old son made the metal plaque for Mother’s Day last year.
8. Smurf.  Given to me by my husband on our first date – March 19, 1981.
9. Door.  Which has measurements of our family and friends over the last 18 years.  We recently upgraded and replaced it, but will never get rid of it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: Rachel Greig

City: Bateau Bay NSW Australia

Occupation: Photographer & Rubber Stamp artist, owner- Darkroom Door

(in no particular order)
1. Vintage camera collection - I have a nice collection of cameras including old brownies, 35mm, 120mm, accordion, polaroid etc. Many I have used, many I have just collected.
2. Letters from friends and family - I have three old suitcases full of letters and postcards. Probably way too many to save in a burning fire! But they all mean a lot to me and I love re-reading them. Connecting with friends and family through snail mail is always special.
3. Vintage letter opener - I have about 20 or so different ones (I know, crazy! I mean, I don't receive enough letters to justify this!)
4. My diaries - The one pictured on top is my diary from high school when I first met my husband (sensational reading in that one!), while the one underneath is my diary from my big European trip in 1997. I have actually burned many of my diaries from childhood, but I'd be devastated if I ever lost these two.
5. Kombi curtains - After traveling through Europe for a year in a Kombi van, the only thing I could keep from the van was some remnant material from the curtains.
6. Knitted hat - both my children wore this the day they were born.
7. Photo negatives - I have folders full of B&W negatives taken over the years (before I went digital). A whole body of work!
8. Grandma's sewing supplies - she handed down her pinking shears to me when she had to stop dressmaking. I then inherited her complete sewing collection after she passed away. She taught me so much about sewing as I was growing up (among other things) and I continue to use her supplies.
9. Grandma's watch - my Grandfather gave her this watch as an engagement present and Grandma gave it to me many years ago. It was actually stolen in a house invasion about 10 years ago, but we found it in the forest nearby a couple of days later! It was meant to stay with me.
10. Photographs - need I say more?
11. Passports - Not all who wander are lost, but I'd be lost without my passport! I know they're replaceable, but I love looking through the stamps. Each one represents so much!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: Mou Saha
City: Tampa, Florida
Occupation: Memory keeper

Objects: When Paula approached me about this project, I began thinking... I have left everything behind when I got married and came to the US and even though, I missed many of those things in the beginning, I got used to my new life pretty soon. So, possession-wise, it was rather hard to narrow down what I can't live without... because they can all be replaced, really! And the memory that's precious stays in my heart and nothing touches it and only time can wear it. Still, if I could save something from burning, maybe these would be the ones...

1. My first child's baby book because everything about a new baby was so novel and it still is
2. My life in a scrapbook that I put together for my 15-month old daughter when I was threatened by cancer so she would get know me a little if I didn't make it
3. Our passports as they connect us to our family and home in India
4. A brass idol of my God... I brought it with me when I came to the US a decade ago and never parted with it