I've been ridiculously sick this past week. Since I was useless for anything else, I decided to do some clearing out and go through the crawlspace under the stairs. It's full of boxes that I put there 9 years ago when I moved to Port Credit. I had no idea what was in them but figured since I haven't missed anything since the move, they're probably full of junk.


Instead, I found a box of CDs I thought were long gone, and then - PHOTO GOLD! An entire box of photographs I forgot even existed. Pictures of my son's first trip off the continent at 15, a 3-month exchange program to France, getting his drivers licence, paddling pics from '96-'99 and a nice surprise, a few pictures of my friend Susi's dogs.

That may not sound too important but about 9 years ago Susi turned the corner on her way home from work and was horrified to see her street full of firetrucks and firefighters trying to put out the blaze that was her house. Her children were grown and away from home but firefighters kept her at the end of the driveway, helpless and crying, as her house burned to the ground with her adored pets - 3 dogs and a cat - inside. The fire was too big and too hot, there was nothing they could do to save them.

When people say they've lost everything in a fire (aside from living creatures), I always think of the big things - the roof over their heads, furniture, appliances, that kind of stuff. But a huge loss is the memories contained in photos. I can't even imagine. My mom used to tell me that if our house caught fire, after her children (thanks mom!) she would try to save her photographs. Anyway, I knew Susi had been able to get a single photo of one dog from the breeder but that was it. I was so glad to be able to find something to replace them.