Story Telling Sunday - Get that box...

For the very first time I am taking part in Story Telling Sunday and I have to admit I'm a little nervous. When I read the prompt, Pick your Precious, over on Sian's blog a couple of days ago, it got me thinking & I came up with a variety of ideas but when I asked my Husband he surprised me with his answer... since then I keep going back to his choice so maybe it's time to share.

It's hard to know where to start so reader please bear with me x

It is less than a week to the 3rd anniversary of a day that totally changed our lives. One of those days when you feel like you are an extra in a soap opera as it just can't be real. This was the day that our home caught fire. In true TV style we only had 3 or 4 minutes to evacuate due to the billowing, choking smoke filling our house, taking with us anything we could. After ensuring our Son was safe I had an uncharacteristic moment of clarity, calling my Husband to quickly collect a large box from a high shelf in a store cupboard. Thankfully he didn't stop & question my request as every second was valuable. All the belongings we retrieved including this box were dumped in the boot of my car where they stayed for a couple of weeks as unfortunately the situation escalated making our home uninhabitable with many of its rooms and the roof destroyed.

I bet you're thinking so what did I think was so precious? From the outside it's just an old box from a previous Christmas gift.

The real treasure is it's contents. Tucked away in neatly labeled envelopes are photograph negatives.

These negatives document our life from becoming a couple, the birth of our 3 children, up to when we went digital.

I can't truly explain why I made him save this box & was surprised I even knew where it was but I'm ever so pleased I did, as the room it was in was destroyed. Maybe it's the scrapbooker in me that realised the contents were irreplaceable, we will never really know but I was thankful in the weeks, months & years that followed that despite not having lots of the physical things people hold so dear, I had managed to save these captured moments to pass on to my children.

My apologies for the serious nature to my story if you don't already know me, I'm not after sympathy in fact I have many things to be thankful for in my life but as you can imagine it has shaped our lives in the most recent past.

Without Sian's encouragement and Story Telling Sunday this story would probably never have been told & certainly never blogged. Now I'm thinking maybe it should be a Lo too ?

Please hop on over & have a read of all the marvellous Pick Your Precious stories.