A fellow craftsman was one of the hundreds of thousands whose home and studio are threatened by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He and his family got out safely. But everything else is in limbo.
His studio and home appear relatively untouched ("relatively" is the operative word here) but now looting and social chaos threaten them. Watching and wondering from hundreds of miles away, they can only wait.
I'm putting the final touches on an order that HAS to ship today. In my "out of town/out of mind" mode left over from our recent vacation, it had entirely slipped past me that Monday was Labor Day.
I'm sitting here with a mile-long list of things I HAVE to do. I look around my studio and play a mental game. If I had been faced with what Mark and Brenda faced a week ago—getting out of the path of a class 5 hurricane—what would I have carried away, and what would I have left?
My family rates tops, of course. The animals we have taken responsibility for. Food and clothing, money. Cell phones. Precious mementos of our lives together. The few valuables we own, such as they are. ("Valuable" being a RELATIVE term here.)
But there the list gets fuzzy. Would I take finished artwork? My business records? My hard drive??? Tools, production materials? My slides and CDs of images? It gets hard.
Would I take the artwork of other artists I've collected over the years? My rolladex? What about my kids' poetry and letters they've written to me over the years? Would I stop to flip through my files looking for those?
The imaginary process starts to feel like a recurring nightmare I have. I have to leave home--immediately--and I start putting on as many clothes as I can so I won't have to carry so much. Shirts, shirts, sweaters, coats. Soon I am immobilized--and the danger comes nearer.
And what about all those things on my mile-long to-do list?
Suddenly it occurs to me. Mark has been given a small gift, one no one would ever knowingly ask for, but very precious nonetheless.
He has a perfect excuse to say no....and yes. And new parameters for deciding who gets which.
All those piddly things we've said yes to, that suck up our time and energy, but we felt we "ought" to do them? Gone.
All those important things we've said no to because we didn't have time, we thought they could wait? Make room.
Yes...and no. I'm betting when Mark's brain clears, his heart will have amazing clarity, too.