Thursday, September 22, 2005

The Contents Of My Mom's Life


My mom now owns:
1. The majority of her family photos and snapshots.
2. A minority of her cherished framed pictures (well, at least the small ones.)
3. My baby book and the baby shoes that all three of her sons have worn.
4. Inspirational notes she's written to herself.
5. Notes from me as a child telling her to not be depressed, because it's sunny outside.
6. My fingerpaintings.
7. A Taurus 38 Special revolver, loaded (blue-steel finish.)
8. Her purse.
9. The clothes on her back.

My little brother now owns:
1. An old wooden chess set.
2. A skateboard.
3. His CD collection (what's left of it), in an old zippered case.
4. A hand-me-down CD walkman.
5. His backpack.
6. The clothes on his back.

It all fits on a small coffee table.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

what about this new hurricane - is she in a safe place away from its path?

Tess said...

I have followed this story from Nerve and didn't think you really had to segregate it. After seeing it all, I am now glad you did.

Going back, looking at each image again, it is overwhelming.

Please keep us posted on the condition of your family and their town. I hope my meager purchase of a couple of photos helps. I so much want to hear that their community and their lives has been restored to some semblance of normality.

clayton cubitt said...

Yeah, I have two brothers. One full brother who's five years younger than me, and my little half brother who's just turned 14, and has been in these pictures.

posted by: siege on 9/24/2005 2:05:55 PM

----

siege, you have another brother?

posted by: bookgirl82 on 9/24/2005 12:18:03 PM

Anonymous said...

You've made this event more real than anything I've seen, especially this photo of everything on one little table and this annotated list. Great stuff here.

Chap said...

Don't know how I got here but I'm glad I did. You're using some unique talents, and I deeply appreciate these photos.

I've twice, so far, lost everything I've owned to hurricane or fire. It sucks.

A few years later, you figure out--it's just stuff.

Here's to a little grace for your family while that healing happens.

Now where's that Paypal button or something? I gotta click...

Anonymous said...

Im reading this in my kitchen in Scotland, surrounded by what I thought was important - I cannot begin to imagine how you have suffered. Your pictures are inspirational, especially your Mom's possessions.

Rachel said...

I've been so moved by your blog. The last 3 months of my life in London post 7/7 have not been easy, but you have all suffered so much, and here are people in despair still behaving with grace and dignity. It is wonderful./ It is beautiful and terrible, what people can endure.


My very best wishes to all of you, I will light a candle for you and your family

Rachel

Anonymous said...

With regards to your mom's collection, I was surprised that she has some men itmes. I am looking at the gun poked at when I mess up her rules. She maybe more violent than Katrina. Or just another all around type of mother.

Anonymous said...

Hi, someone just sent this site to us. My name is janet lee. The boat in your site belongs to my husband James. We were glad it saved 5 lives and glad it was insured also. We got back there one week after Katrina. We were luckier than most of our neighbors. Our house was still standing with ONLY 23 feet of water in it. The stinky mud was the worst smell I had ever smelled. We lost the 1st and 2nd floors but had a 3rd floor to live in. My husband and our families worked hard to get all of the mud out then he got 80% septic poisioning from the mud and mold of the house. He almost died there. Maybe no one realizes this, but without the military and a Christian Life Church from Orange Beach Alabama, Waveland and Bay St. Louis would have starved to death. We appreciated these people so much. I am writing on my sons computer. We met at anothers sons home in Valdosta, GA. We still do not have much in our town but we will come back one day but there will not be a lot of us left since it may take more than 10 years to get back where we were before Katrina. We still have people in tents after 3 months. How can that be in this great nation? It is a haunting question by our town and the towns hit this hard. Photos can not do justice to the destruction to the area. Thank you for those that helped and those that prayed. Janet