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Flood watch-WARNING, could remind us to cherish the amazing moments

As we approach our third year anniversary to Scarletts Make-A-Wish trip it became abundantly clear that the experience has left Scarlett with unforgettable memories and ones she'll apparently never want to forget.
As my husband and I were running around preparing for a recent storm, Scarlett came out holding her Make-A-Wish bag which is filled with all her memorabilia from that indescribable trip. She then proceeded to tell me that if we were going to flood and be leaving the house, all she wanted was her MAW backpack.
Northern California has been hit hard this year with storms, landslides and a lot of flooding.  Being that our house is right in the middle of a flood zone leaves us with the fear of flooding every time a bad storm comes through. And this year is no exception.  In fact, we've had the worst floods that I can remember since moving into our house. Three times this year already, we literally couldn't drive out of our house because our street had turned into a river. 
The fear of having to evacuate is always a discussion in our house. And one day during a horrible storm we were starting to gather important documents, pictures and other emergency supplies when Scarlett walked out of her bedroom holding her MAW bag. Our electricity was out for a few hours that day and the water levels were higher than they had ever been and she wanted to help prepare for the worst. I found it rather comforting that all the toys, dolls, stuffed animals in her room and all she wanted was her Make-A-Wish memories. She walked around with that backpack on for at least 4 or 5 hours, until I finally could re-assure her that we wouldn't have to evacuate and she could put down her bag. 
So the following week I took this as an opportunity to go back to our "happy place" in Florida and re-live that magical trip to Disney World and Give Kids the World Village. Through out the following days we went through all our pictures and videos from beginning to end. We had taken over 2000 pictures and over 80 videos. 
When we initially returned from the trip I had made a Shutterfly book that captured our most memorable moments but also that I had filled with quotes from the kids.  I was overcome with so many different emotions as we looked through this book and re-lived each day. I had saved and laminated almost everything as well from the trip. The kids just lit up as we grabbed buttons, passes, maps and other goodies from the bag.
We are all truly forever grateful for the memories Make-A-Wish and Give Kids the World provided our family . . .  and the floods this year were an ironic reminder to hold on to those memories. They can pop up at the most unexpected times and can end up giving you such peace and happiness even in  the middle of a crisis. 

 Written by,
Kari Peepe
©KariPeepe/atouchofscarlett.blogspot.com
http://atouchofscarlett.blogspot.com
pspdaware@gmail.com


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