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I lost a few words, they lost their entire world

I spent over an hour writing an e mail today
And was very happy with the finished product
And then it froze
I tried unsuccessfully for almost 45 minutes to retrieve it
Maybe I was in denial
I just couldn’t believe I did this again
It’s getting to be a regular happening these days
I had to “end task” and lost it

My daughter told me I should never write anything in an e mail
Always in Microsoft word
You would think I would remember that
Considering how often this has happened to me
Occasionally
After I scream and pound my fist
I immediately try to recall what I wrote before I forget everything
although

No matter how I try
I can never recreate that seemingly well worded e mail
or short story or letter …whatever
And can’t remember how I formed
the perfect sentences that seemed to be lost forever

There were times I spend hours
rewording and editing an old story and then poof
Its gone in an instant
Im back to exactly where I was when I started
A year ago I spent months on a photo story for my husband,
scanning and planning and synchronizing the music and words
and in a flash, it was gone
Poof
Another time,
I found an old story I had written which needed a ton of work
I spent hours
Editing it to perfection
And in a single earth shattering moment
It was gone
Poof

This unfortunate turn of events could make a person prematurely gray
Its like going to medical school
And poof
Someone tells you that all your records were lost
sorry you will have to go through it all over again

Imagine all the people all over the world
Who have a love hate relationship with their computers
How many of us have at one time or another
spent an evening or worse
months
slaving over some document
Only to lose it in the blink of an eye

The words are in front of you one minute
and
the curser is blinking as regular as a healthy heart beat
suddenly
Everything is frozen
Death,
the heart/curse stops
your words are simply gone
without warning
just like that

And you want to kick yourself for not saving it first
But there is really not a single thing you can do about it

Some people have been known to just hang their head and cry
Others take it out on their poor computer
some dont waste a second
they immediatley try to rebuild what they lost

As bad as this situation may be to our sanity

Nothing
compares to the devastation
one must feel
after loosing everything
they worked for
in a lifetime

It seems every time you watch the news
You see some unfortunete
human being
standing in total shock
in front of their property

instead
of losing words
they lost their world

lost
their life as they know it
either
by fire, tornado, floods
or earthquake

This morning
I saw a picture of a farmer standing in front of his land
It was completely submerged
All his crops were underwater
The look on his face was one I will never forget

All his hard work
His whole life
Was tied up in the land

And I lost a little e mail
Shame on me!
Can you imagine the energy
and positive mental attitude
it requires
for all these poor people
who are facing theses unfortunate circumstances
to be able
to roll up their sleaves

and
start over again

they probably believe they will never be able to duplicate
what took them a life time to build
but they dig in and try!

We need to pray for them
And I need to stop complaining about trivial matters….
thats another story

Posted by roe on 2008-06-28 23:44:00 | Rating:

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		I lost almost everything I owned in 2003. We had 10 minutes,to get out. We saved some of our family pictures, not all. We lost our home,and a rental, all construction equipment. All my Deceased Father's memorabilia, his service medals, his photographs, his awards, everything. And in case you live far from town and a fire hydrant, read the fine print on your insurance, it reads:'S.O.L.' ha, ha! Why take our payments for ten years then? Anyway it was a wildfire, started by a man who got lost and started a signal fire. He was not so far from the town of Ramona Ca.,really not far at all,he could have waited one night, and walked out. But in the dry brush, during a desert windstorm, he lit a fire that burned thousands of homes. And killed 13 people, that are known of. We lived 20 mountainous miles away. We are lucky,no one in my family died. We did lose some 'barn cats', they run away when afraid. That was horrible, It hurt me a lot. Our old dog was smart enough to jump in the car. Some of the kitties knew to go into a drainage culvert, they survived. These were the cats that mysteriously appear when you live out of town, same as the "stray" dogs that stand in the road and look at every passing car. We have taken in many. We did not rely on help from others, we moved in to a house we already had in escrow,being in the business of buying and renovating houses. It was better for us to just leave, and we did. It made things a lot easier, a clean break, we didn't have to look at the ruined landacape everyday as our former neighbors did. No Fema, no red cross, no insurance. We were better off than people who fought all that for the next several years. So,we feel at home. We got used to the new views, new town. "Things" accumulate, not the same things, but new things. No speedboats,no Atv's well only one. A couple of small boats for fishing. I won't collect the same things I used to anymore. Some things I had for so many years. All my artwork, all of it. All my books. I had been collecting 100 brass elephants. I had close to that,(supposed to be good luck) ha, ha, whenever we saw one, it was mine. Now I collect miniature old perfume bottles. What I don't have anymore is pets, my old dog died at age 15, he finally got used to his new home here, but he never felt like 'king of the mountain' as he had been. So, in the scheme of things, loss is inevitable, losing your words, annoying, losing your home, survivable. Losing a pet, sad, losing a family member in a fire...Thank God, I don't have that to mourn over.
Posted by circe on 2008-06-29 01:33:04


		Great Post Roe. I write everything in WordPad and try to remember to save as I go along. Like you sometimes I get so caught up in my words that saving is the last thing on my mind ... and then "poof" ... gone forever. You are correct the words NEVER come together the same way twice. Every writing piece is an original (one of a kind) work of art. I agree (losing an email) a small thing compared to what others are dealing with. Was thinking the same thing last evening as I was complaining and dealing with some minor weather related basement stuff and unable to go to a yearly outdoor event because of our area being under a Severe Thunderstorm Watch. Peace.
Posted by ColoradoDreamin on 2008-06-29 14:13:40


		Circe, We lived through the 2003 Ramona fire also, except it missed our country home. Since we moved they had another fire that came even closer. We moved north to be near our grown children, but the sense of loss still comes sometimes since we built that house ourselves and I really loved it with wrap around porches and all. I have come to realise that we can never duplicate the past, just move on with open hands for all that God has for us in the future.
Posted by sharetheword on 2008-06-29 17:27:33


		So sorry to vent Roe, you just hit a nerve, I am all better now. Apparently, I use too many words.
Posted by circe on 2008-06-29 19:47:07


		roe, I've experienced moments like that, especially when working on a class assignment before saving it. It's very frustrating, but we do learn from making these mistakes. Now whenever I do word processing, I save everything ahead of time. BunnieMarie
Posted by BunnieMarie on 2008-06-29 19:53:19


		One thing I learn from this entry is that our little problems in life are nothing...as many others face much bigger problems or even life threatening. I always write my entry in Word sheet first. When it is done just copy and paste into new blog entry sheet.....This way if suddenly it lost misteriously into the cyber space it will not really matter, it is still on my PC file.
Posted by Gwatlan on 2008-06-29 19:55:00


		oh, where to start, thanks for all the comments, I really appreciate hearing from all you bloggers out there...Sharetheword and Circe, I never knew you had experienced such a devastating event in your lives. Im so sorry for both of you! What does not kill you makes you stronger, and you two must have huge muscles. Circe...you have more layers than an onion and each time you reveal another, I either laugh or cry. Your life experiences would make one heck of a book. This never never blog land is so crazy because I really do feel like I know you.. you are a warm and witty wise women are a caring, nurturing mother, wife and friend, who also happens to be a fantastic cook and can work miracles in the garden and who has an outlook on life I could only aspire to and the love and respect and devotion you have for your unbelievable husband is second to none...you are an awesome human being and I did not even touch on your artistic ablily and the way you view the world...you are awesome! Im speechless! Actually, I left a rather long comment for someone who is speechless, but thats another story!
Posted by roe on 2008-06-29 21:24:05


		how trueour problems are so little compared to others...and it just goes to show you, you cant judge a book by its cover, some people put on such a brave face and go around comforting others when they have had so many struggles themselves...
Posted by roe on 2008-06-29 21:27:06


		I hate to see my comments, I make so many dumb mistakes, but I do the same thing daily in my life. Im at a hotel with my husband and daughter, we are going to freshman orientation tomorrow for her college...it took me quite awhile just to get an internet connection, but Im so glad I finally did, I just had to commment on the comments! Sounds like that could be a blog...!
Posted by roe on 2008-06-29 21:30:06


		Dang Roe,alls I paid for was a one liner. I am warm, true, it is summer here, but witty, wise? I think you are channeling,'west side story'. And,my husband is easy to love.
Posted by circe on 2008-06-29 22:33:14


		that is pretty and witty and gay and I pity any girl who isnt circe today i feel stunning and entrancing, feel like running and dancing for joy yes, I was a Jet in senior class play in brother rice (boys high school) when your a jet youre a jet all the way do you know I can remember every word of those songs and the dialogue and I have no idea what I did yesterday! I snuck back in to blog land, for a second, but my daughter wants to use the computer..dang
Posted by roe on 2008-06-29 22:46:59


		There's a place for us, somewhere a place for us, maybe in an asyyyyylum, here I come, want some fun? somewhere,somehow,somewayyyy oh, I know the words too, Wish I could sing like Barbra and look like Natalie, or is it look like Barbra and sing like Natalie? or is it dance like Chita Rivera and... or is it Geraldo Rivera?
Posted by circe on 2008-06-30 00:34:05


		Roe-Sorry to veer off the course of this thread (that's never happened before), but to Circe-- it was years before I knew that Natalie Wood wasn't singing in West Side Story and it was dubbed by a pro...but she was a singular beauty, in my eyes...
Posted by GrammyandGrampy on 2008-06-30 13:13:02


		no problem, I agree Natalie was beautiful hate to ruin your day grammy but did you also know that audrey did not do the singing in the movie, my fair lady
Posted by roe on 2008-06-30 23:54:33


		Aaaargghh, noooooo!!! Say it ain't so,Roe! Actually, the same woman (Marni Nixon) that sang for Natalie in West Side Story also sang for Hepburn in My Fair Lady. She also sang some of Rita Moreno's parts in W.S.S, and in the quintet for 'Tonight', she sang both Rita and Natalie's parts...
Posted by GrammyandGrampy on 2008-07-02 19:35:20