The Things We Carry

Trinkets, Good Omens, Searching For Signs

Del Ray Beach - Gearhart, Oregon

The baby is fast asleep in his bed and I can hear his soft breath. My husband Chris has already fallen asleep beside me to the drone of Antiques Roadshow, glasses still on his face. A woman has brought a sage green vase that belonged to her Mother to be appraised; marred black in spots from a fire. When the flames came, it was one of the only things she managed to save: a thread of connection to her Mother and her past.

I pull on my softest nightgown, pour myself a glass of wine and settle in to read a little, mind half drifting. If the fires come, what would I save?