Images will remain forever

A business associate provided this story - one she will never forget!

I was twelve years old and just finishing Sunday dinner at my grandmother’s house when we received the call. Our home was burning to the ground! It’s one of those images that remain forever – driving down our road seeing the fire trucks, smoke and every neighbor watching the efforts to save our house. Many things after that were a blur – my mother whisked off and my sisters and I distributed to other homes to stay that night.

I was placed with my best friend’s family. My friend and I snuck over to what was my house. I remember seeing my Led Zeppelin album in the front yard, barely recognizable, as it was essentially melted plastic. I started to remember all my other “worldly possessions” – my favorite bell-bottoms, TV, stuffed animals, record player. For many years after, my favorite things were all someone else's “previously owned” favorite things.

My mother had a choice to rebuild or build new. She chose to rebuild, as this was our family home. It was especially important to her because my father had just passed away 3 months prior after a six year battle with cancer. Protecting the house and those items we thought were salvageable with 24-hour security guards, we began the process of rebuilding. My mother’s wedding china, family heirlooms and - most important - the evidence of the likely cause of the fire were “secured” to be cleaned of smoke damage. Within a week, all of those items had been stolen!

Back then there were no services available such as Hartman Inventory to make a detailed recording of your belongings. Imagine trying to remember your lifetime of possessions while under the stress of a tragedy. A lifetime of substance became mixed with 2 months of donated items of need. For years we would experience an incident that would remind us of something we’d forgotten to claim.

As an adult I can now rationalize the importance of insurance and the monetary value of replacement of assets. My experience taught me that you cannot possibly remember all of your belongings – especially in times of tragedy which is when it’s required.

How fortunate we are today to have the Hartman's service.