Haiti

Day 7
Sometimes it takes a natural disaster, or any disaster for that matter, to remind me of how much I truly have. I am both horrified by and addicted to CNN. The images of those suffering haunts me throughout the day and continues as nightmares while I sleep. But today I learned something I had never thought about. I spend a lot of time worrying about those that will follow me. I daydream about my children as adults, and who their babies will be . One of the reasons I am doing this blog is so that I can turn it into a hard copy and leave something for my great, great, great grandchildren to remember me by. But all the journals, photo albums, blogs, and scrapbooks I spend so much time keeping are tangible items that can be destroyed. The only thing that can't be destroyed by an earthquake, or flood, or fire, or any other disaster is the memory that my children, friends, and family will have. I do feel that keeping family history is incredibly important and by no means will I stop maintaining my photo albums and journals-but today I realized how much time I have wasted working on my material memories. Time that could have been spent making eternal memories that live in their minds. Memories that won't be left behind when they leave this world behind. You know that adage, "You can't take it with you?" Today I learned and came to understand its cautionary meaning.

On another note...having watched the news almost 24 hours a day for the last several days, I have noticed something. 2 year olds are incredibly resilient. The majority of the survivors that have been most recently recovered are toddlers. Makes me have a whole new appreciation for the untapped strength of my 2 year old.

I am so sorry for those affected by the Haiti earthquake. I am not, by any means, trying to minimize the terror and devastation of the situation by turning it into an egocentric opportunity to learn. Maybe it's a coping mechanism, to try and make sense out of something that seems so randomly destructive. May God be with you.

Janet