In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Burning Down the House.”

The Daily Post has asked…Your home is on fire. Grab five items (assume all people and animals are safe). What did you grab?

My son-in-law and I actually joked about this on the day of his wedding.

I awoke to the sound of the  alarms going off in the hall. Thick black smoke already engulfed most of the stairway. So I kept low clutching my little dogs close to my chest. Mom and my sister were already at the doorway and headed across the porch. I handed Jacopo and Mercedes to Brenda while mom carried Snug. I tried to launch myself back through the door to save what I could from the house but the old place was a tinderbox. There was no saving anything that was inside. We were glad to escape with our lives.

It was at that moment that I was glad I had saved all my pictures and all my words to several thumb drives in several locations. I would not want to lose any of my photographs or stories. Most precious of all are the pictures I have of my son-in-law James. There are few of these and he really hates them all.  A father-in-law can never have too much leverage.