From The Book of Questions by Gregory Stock.

Question #41: Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire; after saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be?

Sanssouci wrote:From The Book of Questions by Gregory Stock.

Question #41: Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire; after saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be?

This reminds me irresistibly of that Terry Pratchett Discworld novel, the one spoofing the Phantom of the Opera.

Granny Weatherwax used to ask people a variation on that, "Your house is on fire, you can take one thing out, what do you choose?" and use it to get a feel for who they are.

My favorite answer
I would have to go for the medicine bag that holds all the Elders' medications, because they would begin to have some serious health issues pretty much right away, without that. Diabetes is nothing to mess with. It would really be hugely devastating to me, though. I have a lot of family history in my house, and even if the firemen put out the fire, the water damage from doing that would ruin most of our records. I think just the books alone are worth more than the structure of my house, replacement-value-wise. It'd be awful.

My cats favorite toy.

I find that during emergencies you dont really have time to think about what to grab. Youre too shook. When my grandmother died very recently, I was the only one living with her, I had to move into my aunts house because theyre going to sell the house I lived in off and on for 15 years, and I had to choose things to take to my aunts.
I chose clothes and a kindle and the things I usually keep with me anyway.
Its true I would be coming back to get the other things, but during a tragedy like that it can be hard to think about what you actually need.

I knew I needed clothes, and Im a bibliophile, so I would need something to do, so I grabbed my kindle. It took me a ridiculously long time to gather that much.

I really am not sure what I would save. I really like a lot of my stuff. But I can't think of any one thing that stands out above the rest other than the animals.

after saving the kitties, maybe my computer and phone - oh and the cash money I have that I am saving for a vacation

Moi wrote:

My sister most likely. My life would be incredibly worse if I didn't have her.
I feel that my mom and aunt could make it out easily and my dog stays outside most of the time, but my cat is a treasure to me too. I would most likely get my sister out and go back for my cat and die. And my cat would be outside already.

8u

Moi, this question was kind... it granted already that you have already saved the lives of your loved ones and your pets. :) So your sister is already safe!

I used to think about this question a lot when I was a kid trying to fall asleep and being afraid our house might catch fire...
The answer I came up with back then was my favourite stuffed animal - a big hippo I've had since my first birthday.
I don't think my answer would change now... Most things can be replaced, they might be more impractical to loose, but the emotional attachment trumps inconvenience for me by a lot.

I think my phone or computer. They have a lot of pictures that aren't backed up anywhere else yet. Which is dumb, I know, I need to back them up.

Ooo. Or maybe my wheelchair? Because that would be super hard to replace.