a beaver, a chest, and a snack for the road

this earthquake and subsequent tsunami has really got me thinking.  There seems with each natural disaster a smaller interval between it and another one in some other place on the planet.  I've watched videos of people now homeless, watched as people's houses floated away or crumbled to the earth.  I noticed something in each video.  No one was peeling out in a ferrari down the streets, no one with a 60-inch 1080p 3D plasma flatscreen tv in tow.  Some had 30 minutes to evacuate their homes, some had 30 seconds.  some didn't have time to evacuate at all.  I saw some with boxes of food in their arms, but not much more than that.  Most stood (or ran) alone or with loved ones to higher ground until it was safe.  

we don't pretend to be wealthy (okay okay, sometimes we pretend.  like when my husbands clients invite us to their country club and we act like we're right at home, like this is exactly what we eat/do at our country club).  But we have way more than we need.  And parting with it would be hard for me.  There, I said it, I'm materialistic. 

another thing I noticed.  all the news stories I've seen, no one has been crumpled in the corner devastated at their material loss.  I saw one video of a 70+ couple who were outside their broken home and wringing out socks and washing mud off shoes and saying, "well we better get to work, no one is going to fix this mess for us".  and they made chopsticks, cups, and bowls from local bamboo trees, and trucked down some snow from nearby mountains and boiled it for water.

so I started asking myself some questions:

if I had to start over, if I had nothing and so did everyone else around me, what could I offer?  I just learned how to knit.  I could carve myself some knitting needles using the orange trees in the orchard and make some scarves or hats.  assuming it was a winter that got the slightest bit chilly.  I could sing a lullaby to soothe someone (myself).  I now know that you have to boil snow in order to eat it.  I could do that too.  

if I only had a moment to grab what meant most to me, what would I grab?  what would I have a hard time losing forever?  the beav and the husband are the obvious choice.  after all, what would carve those knitting needles but a pair of beaver teeth?  and who would hold me in his strong arms and tell me everything would be okay.  

also, my scriptures.   cliche?  maybe, but I would.  my scriptures hold my deepest thoughts, my greatest spiritual moments, my hardest discoveries, reminders of moments where it was clear why I'm here, and highlight answers to my prayers.  they are, in a very real way, all my journals of the past 5 years all crammed into one little quad.  if we had a wheelbarrow, I'd throw in my hope chest, which contains all things precious to me.  poems from 5th grade (maybe having something to do with horses).  love notes to/from the hubs.  all things beav.  

and if any of you know me, I’d grab about 20 z bars and some dried mango for the road.  I’ve never been great company on an empty stomach.

what could you offer?  what would you grab on your way out the door?