This week we had a HUGE storm in Sydney, and a friend's house was damaged by a flash flood. Her family were lucky to make it out of their house before the downstairs was completely submerged in water. Seriously, they were on the news and everything.
Seeing the pictures of their destroyed house has brought back some memories for me of the year that my family went through some devastation of our own.
Back when I was 10, our year contained both a flood AND a fire.
We were staying at a friends property for the Easter holidays when it and the neighbouring properties flooded. All of the kids were sent to higher ground, so I don't have many memories of the actual flood, but I do know that they travelled around in boats, trying to get things sorted and to save the stuff that was washing away.
After that drama, our year was relatively quiet (as far as I recall) until the end of November when we lost most of our home in a house fire.
We were all home, Mum out sewing a dress for a dancing competition, my sister was in bed and I was watching a video with Dad and our neighbour who I was having a sleepover with. The fire started in garage, so luckily we weren't trapped and there was time for us to leave safely once we noticed it. Unfortunately Dad lost all of his music equipment, tools, Square Dance records, and we lost our bikes and even my beloved roller skates!
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| our garage was on the left, that's the garage door frame laying on the driveway |
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| our lounge room - you can see through to the garage |
It was a really scary night, and it wasn't just the fire that caused damage - we lost many family photos and electrical items to water damage. Our insurance only covered the building, none of the contents. We were lucky enough to have lots of our neighbours, family and friends rally around us to support us. An army of people showed up the next day to clear the house out. We had people take clothes and other items to clean them, and my parents Square Dancing friends held fundraisers for us to help buy the major white goods. People gave us copies of photos to help replace the memories that we lost. I've since learnt, after seeing it many, many times on the TV, that this is the true Aussie spirit showing through.
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| the kitchen with the roof caved in |
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| even in the rooms that weren't burnt, you can see the smoke and water damage. dig those retro arches! |
We rebuilt, and moved about 4 years later into the house that my parents still live in, a new area, new schools (ha, I remember changing school being WAY more traumatic than the fire). And it will be 26 years ago in a few weeks. Some things stay with you though. I ALWAYS try to seek out the source if I smell smoke. I'm overly attached to the precious photos that we were able to replace. Deep down I know though, that you will always be okay, even if you lose everything, as long as you survive, because the days go on, and roller skates can be replaced, and one day you realise that you haven't thought about it in so long that it was nearly forgotten.
Tracey xox
