What would you grab?

[Truegrits]

My animals...

[Guest]

Those are obvious and given. What else?

How much time do I have?

P.S. This actually happened to my mother when I wasn't born yet. My 2 older brothers were already born and my dad was traveling. It happened in the middle of the night while everybody was asleep. My mother heard the flames in the next-door neighbor's house and only had time to grab both toddlers before the barrels of gas that he was hording in his garage exploded. So, she basically came out with nothing else besides the 2 toddlers, the blankets they slept with and the pajamas on their backs. I've heard this story all my life (it was a miracle that my mother woke up just in time to save the children - it is her testament to the power of the Holy Spirit). So, I grew up with no attachments to things like photographs, etc. My parents lost all their photographs - wedding, baby books, etc, and never missed them.

Edited September 21, 2010 by anatess

[haleywright71]

I'm a freshman student at Brigham Young University living in the dorms. Last night, a couple of my roommates and I stayed up late talking about various subjects. Somehow we all got on the topic of our Patriarchal blessings, and we all decided to grab ours and read them at 1 in the morning! It was so great though. We discussed spiritual matters that helped us grow closer as friends and increase our testimonies. As a side note, I'm originally from Riverton, Utah, the city right next to Herriman, Utah that is currently under clouds of smoke and fire! I know a lot of people up in Herriman and pray that everything will be alright for them. This got me thinking about the title of this blog. What would I grab if I had to be evacuated and my house was about to burn down? I realized that all my property and "things" don't really matter at all. They can all be replaced, and when I die they'll mean nothing to me anyways. My Patriarchal blessing is singular to me and gives me direction for my life. What else is more important than that? Yes, it's a simple piece of paper with writing on it, but it's the most important thing for me to have. If nothing else, I would grab that from the flames. I started to re-evaluate my priorities and realized how blessed I am to know who I am and have the Gospel in my life. So many people in this world don't have that! I need to try and remember that more on a daily basis.

[zippy_do46]

Since we have been part of the Volunteer fire dept in our area I have talked to several people about having a basic kit. Also in our area the local emergency mangement was giving out list of basic kits to put together.

Living in the South and getting ready for the recent storms in the last few years I have realized just how important it is to have a plan. Then shaking it off if the plan does not work. You can only plan for so much. I believe the hardest thing I had to do is to leave the house not knowing if my love ones were safe. I remember looking around while I was loading the truck. I was crying because I didn't know if everyone was going to make it to the safe place we had decided on before the storm.

So family is more then a given. A plan is a must because if it is not there before it happens sometimes the mind is on other things. Our 72-hour kits were basic. Our medical records were in the bags of meds that my family needed. Those were added to the kits. Then I looked around and the only thing I could take was memories. I walked out the door praying for my family who were not with us at that time.

[Traveler]

Wingnut has a point. Family and pets are the obvious. Other than family and pets, what would you grab?

My bicycle.

The Traveler

[Dravin]

Yes, it's a simple piece of paper with writing on it, but it's the most important thing for me to have.

I'm curious, are you aware that you can get a copy from the Church free of charge in a week or two? So your patriarchal blessings is as replaceable as your TV, more so if insurance isn't going to cover the cost of replacing the TV. Not that I'm advocating you should save the TV, but you almost sound like you think if you don't save your patriarchal blessing it'll be lost to you.

[Guest]

My books and my samurai sword!

[Saldrin]

nothing but family members, that includes pets.

[rameumptom]

It is important to be prepared. My wife and I have a file cabinet which holds our important documents. The most important ones are in the top drawer, in a couple plastic bags that we can grab quickly. These include our birth certificates, insurance documents, etc.

Next, we have our 72 hour kit. Actually, we have a dual kit. One 72 hour kit that then fits into a larger 2 week kit, in case we have the chance to take all of it.

Then, important documents, photos, etc., are kept both on the Internet and on an external hard drive. This ensures that if something happens, I still have a digital copy of many of the memories, etc in the cloud, where I can easily get at later.

If you have such things ready to grab, and an emergency list that reminds you in such an instance which things you need to remember to take with you, then it really doesn't take long. You don't have to decide at the last minute what you need to take with you. You don't have to worry about forgetting an important document, photo, pet or small child, because they will be on the checklist. Whether you place teenagers on the list or not, depends on how much you like them at the moment....

Even journals and patriarchal blessings can be digitized. You can type them in, or if you want to preserve the handwriting, scan them into a PDF file. Keep a copy in the Cloud, where you can log in from anywhere and retrieve the stuff. An easy way to do this is to get a free email account (GMail accounts give several gigabytes of space), and email them to yourself as an attachment. Or you can always go with one of the online backup/storage places for cheap.

[FunkyTown]

I would grab my wallet, my scriptures and my comforter. It's a quilt that my Mom made.

[PrinceofLight2000]

It is important to be prepared. My wife and I have a file cabinet which holds our important documents. The most important ones are in the top drawer, in a couple plastic bags that we can grab quickly. These include our birth certificates, insurance documents, etc.

Next, we have our 72 hour kit. Actually, we have a dual kit. One 72 hour kit that then fits into a larger 2 week kit, in case we have the chance to take all of it.

Then, important documents, photos, etc., are kept both on the Internet and on an external hard drive. This ensures that if something happens, I still have a digital copy of many of the memories, etc in the cloud, where I can easily get at later.

If you have such things ready to grab, and an emergency list that reminds you in such an instance which things you need to remember to take with you, then it really doesn't take long. You don't have to decide at the last minute what you need to take with you. You don't have to worry about forgetting an important document, photo, pet or small child, because they will be on the checklist. Whether you place teenagers on the list or not, depends on how much you like them at the moment....

Even journals and patriarchal blessings can be digitized. You can type them in, or if you want to preserve the handwriting, scan them into a PDF file. Keep a copy in the Cloud, where you can log in from anywhere and retrieve the stuff. An easy way to do this is to get a free email account (GMail accounts give several gigabytes of space), and email them to yourself as an attachment. Or you can always go with one of the online backup/storage places for cheap.

You guys would do well to get a large firebox, in which you could put a removable hard drive. :)

[rameumptom]

I would grab my wallet, my scriptures and my comforter. It's a quilt that my Mom made.

Oh, good. I was afraid you were going to tell us it is one of those Snuggie!

[FunkyTown]

Oh, good. I was afraid you were going to tell us it is one of those Snuggie!

Hahah, no, no. I would never have to grab my snuggie blanket.

My snuggie is always with me.