I’ve been staring at photos of the devastation in Joplin. My heart breaks for those who lost loved ones or are still searching for them. My prayers are certainly with the families affected by all these recent storms.

As I looked at photo upon photo of houses reduced to rubble, their owners picking through the pile trying to salvage what they could, I wondered what, if anything, I would go back for.

Looking at it objectively, from thousands of miles away, I think “That’s so overwhelming. What do I have that is that important? I’m not sure I would bother.” There’s scrapbooks and photos of course. (Which reminds me I should really get all those old photo CDs and load them to Media Fire.)

My computer? Even then, the entire thing is backed up on Carbonite.com.

Sure, there’s things with sentimental value, but even then I’m not sure that I could pinpoint what I’d be looking for.

Maybe part of it is my recent desire to simplify our life and our possessions. Over the recent years I’ve noticed a dramatic shift in how much I care about things. I guess it started to happen during our FPU/debt-repayment years, but there were still plenty of wants.

When we started the adoption process we needed to save every penny we could find and when I compared that new outfit, or new decor item for the house, with those 2 beautiful faces, the things never won out.

Two and a half years ago as we laid in a bed in Ethiopia, Mark and I talked about what it would be like to move overseas. “What would you HAVE to bring with you?” I asked.

His answer came quick and honestly didn’t surprise me.

“My Sleep Number bed!”

(Interestingly, because of the way it’s built, I bet we could.)

I thought and thought. Maybe some scrapbook stuff? I could use it to help local women make crafts or card – or I’d have more spare time? Well, I’ve since got rid of all the scrapbook stuff, and honestly am left with not that much that I care about…in a good way.

I brought this up to Mark last night and he said, “Honey, these people are in SHOCK!”

He reminded me about my parent’s house fire in 1999. I was on a flight to TX, but Mark, who saw it on the news, drove to their house and got there before they did. The fire was out by the time my parents showed up. When my mom came home and saw water dripping from the attic onto the dining room table she started to collect buckets to catch the drips. Never mind that the table was clearly already soaked. Never mind that there were giant holes in the ceiling and very little roof left.

My dad was scrambling for an extension cord so he could plug the deep freeze in to the neighbor’s house so they wouldn’t lose the food.

Not exactly the most rationale thought process. (My dad might disagree on the deep freeze).

That’s what shock will do.

So I’m curious, because we can look at the topic objectively, what would you go back to look for? What would you be hoping to find?