LEARN 10 & 11

Oops. I've LEARNed that while it takes 28 days for something to become a habit, it can take only 10 weeks for me to mess up and ruin my resolution to post once a week about my OneWord... SOOOO I'm posting last week's and this week's LEARN posts together, as one.

What have I LEARNed lately? Well, this past week or so has been a LEARNing time for me, but it's been more of an emotional LEARNing experience...

On Friday 2/28, Mom called me at work to tell me a house in my hometown was on fire. I commented, half jokingly, that it had better not be mine (Thank God it wasn't!). We left work our normal time, around 3:30, but took our sweet time going home. We stopped at Walmart, Sam's Club and Lowe's, and ate dinner out, then got home around 7pm.

As we got closer to the bottom of our street, we noticed it was closed off; a police car was blocking it and a power company truck was parked there. We chatted with the police office stationed on the next block, where we wanted to turn and when we told him we lived on (our street name), I noticed a funny look on his face, but when we told him where on the street, he said, "Oh, okay, you can go on up (next street over). Have a great night."

Normally on Saturdays we go to the lake, but that weekend we decided to stay home for various reasons. I got to sleep in - I got up at around 9!!! - and took a shower. I had plans to meet E for lunch. I heard J talking very loudly outside but couldn't make out the words. When he came inside, he was quite agitated and loud. He told me the neighbors just told him that a house had burned down at the bottom of our street. He was leaving to go to Harbor Freight and would see me when I got home later

I finished getting ready, and then let E know I was going to be a few minutes late, that I wanted to go look at the house.

It was horrible.

The entire back of the house had collapsed and all the windows were blown out. I took a picture of it to show E (and to put in my scrapbook) and went to lunch.

On the way home J called to find out where I was. I told him I was a minute or two away and he told me to come down the street and park down there, that they were tearing the house down! I parked and walked over and we stood and watched them turn this home into a pile of rubble.

Here's the LEARNing part: I watched the owners stand there and watch their home be destroyed. They were not allowed inside for anything. He had been at work, his wife was out and their 2 children were at school. Their tenant called the owner at work to say the house was on fire and he left immediately for home. It was fully engulfed by the time he got there. All they have are the clothes on their backs and the "stuff" in their pockets, purses and book bags.

 I was so choked up about it all. I LEARNed, much more up close and personally, that it could be so easy to lose it all, that we need to forget about the "stuff" and concentrate on the people.  I LEARNed that I have too much, that I want to get rid of the "stuff" that weighs me down as much as the extra pounds I'm carrying, even more so, in some ways.  I want to get the important things into a safe place.  Sure, some of the things I would want to save are simply "stuff" but most of it I could stand to lose.  I can always get another pair of black pants, or another tchotchke something-or-another that's on my end table.  I can't get another engagement ring or that one picture of my dad and me that I could never stand to lose, or all those important papers and account numbers, my wedding album and video...

I LEARNed that I need to let go of the things, I want less, and I need more:  more appreciation for what I have and how easily and quickly I could lose it.