NYT: A lost scrapbook
Source: New York Times
This one begs the question of what would you take if you thought you were leaving your home behind forever?
Mr. Volkert called over several Marquette classmates, and one shot a couple of photos of the book. Then they turned it in at Common Ground’s headquarters, hoping the group could find the Cyrus family and return the book to Kierstyn.
Nobody at Common Ground, though, knew where the Cyrus family had ended up. Their old phone number had been disconnected. Relief workers were worried that the book had been contaminated by the toxic chemicals in the floodwaters. It was stored for a time amid ever-growing piles of personal effects discovered by cleanup crews. Eventually, in all likelihood, the scrapbook was thrown away, Mr. Pepper said, although even that fate is not certain.
Kierstyn and her mother did not know that the book had resurfaced, or that it had disappeared again until late last month when at last they saw the photos of the scrapbook, all that is left.
As they sat on their screen porch in Dodson on a rainy Sunday night, Kierstyn remembered that just before Katrina, she had bought some purple tie-dyed fabric to cover the portfolio. Ms. Cyrus recalled that she had made a photocopy of Kierstyn’s school skirt so she could use that exact plaid pattern as the backdrop for a new page of awards.
“We were going to do all those things,” Ms. Cyrus said. “All those things we were going to do.” She paused as some rain blew in through the screen. “When I thought we had all the time in the world.”
It'such a cliche but it's true: you never know what matters until you've lost it.
