Our thoughts cannot help but turn to the east and southeast. The aftermath of Hurricane Helen drenched our regional neighbors with excessive amounts of water. People, homes, businesses and bridges were leveled, leaving behind a dirty mess.

Last week, Hurricane Milton once again struck already hard-hit Floridians. There are no easy answers to why these tragedies continue to occur. Because we are motivated by compassion, we should do whatever we can to alleviate some of the suffering of others.

If you’ve never experienced a storm like this, be grateful. It’s hard to get through life without a major disaster knocking on our door. So far I have been fortunate to have avoided losing my home to fire, tornado or other disaster. This has also been the luck of the last three generations that I know of.

My parents had a fire in their kitchen that caused minor damage. I think Gay and I had a fire on Jones Street when we lived in Old Hickory, but it didn’t make any difference. My mom Betty and dad Jim Dill’s field was on fire and the wind was blowing towards their house on Dill Lane. My Aunt Ruth, my grandparents, my mother, my sister Betty and I fought the fire with wet burlap bags. The prayers were answered, the wind died down, and the fire never broke through the wire fence in the backyard.

If a disaster came to your home and you had time, what would you try to save? I hope there is time to save precious people and pets. People and pets should be at the top of our list. Everything else should fade into the background. Since we sleep upstairs, we hope that the fire alarm will go off and we will be cleared to go down the stairs.

The next treasured item I would like to preserve would be the Rushing family Bible, given to Willie Elizabeth Short by her aunt S. C. Moore before her wedding to Bryant Elvis Rushing on December 31, 1885. These were my paternal great-grandparents. Both were residents of Rutherford County. This Bible was given to my grandfather Clyde Bryant Rushing (Pop), then to my father Elvis Rushing, and then to me. It contains the names, births, marriages and deaths of their descendants up to the present time (130 years). Most of the entrees were prepared by my great-grandparents, my grandfather, my mother, and now me.

The next items to be salvaged will be family photos and wall art. It’s good that now many photos are on phones or on the Internet. In the past, fire could destroy precious family memories preserved in photographs. The sterling silver place settings that belonged to Gay Blackmon’s grandmother would probably be her choice.

Fire, water, wind and storms are terrible destroyers. I pray that no one will ever have to lose their loved ones, home and property. The older we get, the more we realize that life is not just about things. We had better place our hopes in eternal things and hold on to the unchanging hand of God!

Joe Dill Rushing is approaching the start of his 34th year as a Springfield resident. He and his wife, Gay, are grateful that their children, their spouses and grandchildren call Robertson County “home!”