Things

I walk through the house, glancing at Things.

Things. Like a walk in the park. Things. Like a kiss in the dark. Things like a sailboat ride. What about the night we cried?

My great grandmother's christening dress. Somehow it crossed the generations and lives in my closet.

The ring my daddy gave me when I turned 14--oh wait. It was stolen. Ok, the ring he gave me to replace it when I was 26. The cross stitch I did myself when I married. It says "Roger* Lorrie* they shall become one flesh...Gen 2:24"

The pictures. The videos. My wedding dress. The clothes that the girls were wearing the day they became ours. The shirt I wore on my first day of law school. "Attorneys Make Better Motions." Oh yes, I still have it..and WEAR it.

Things.

And I shiver, dreading the day that my Things disappear in a unfathomable torrent of bad luck, bad planning, bad timing, bad cut of the cards..

And then I look at the flesh, the living, breathing, laughing, sweating, crying, teasing, specimens of humanity and dogmanity that live in my home, my neighborhood, my job, my computer, my heart..

And the darkness descends into my heart and the slow ice creeps into my spine as I realize how terrifyingly vulnerable we all are to losing the Things that matter the most...and how many people have lost the Things that matter the most to them.....

My wife told me to take care of the kids as she was swept away...I can't find my children...Have you heard anything? My husband died when the oxygen ran out... The boy was told "you can't take Snowball on the bus from the Superdome" and he cried until he vomited.....

All I can do is pray for the suffering to cease. Hoping desperately that somehow this will help.

And write checks.

And that is what I will do, fervently.