I found this on PostSecret:
I wondered the same thing. I could only guess because I haven't had my abode completely burn down yet. That kitchen incident, I only left after I was sure I put the candle-induced fire out (thereby coating the entire room in white) and my next-door neighbor and good friend Jody grabbed me by the arm and forcibly removed me.
Don't dwell on it. Just ask yourself. What's the first few things you think of that you'd grab if you could (or have had to)? All I could come up with (after grabbing my brother, obviously...no one's gonna make me another one of those) was my computer and the box of photos in the basement. If you're thinking the computer because of the ginormous hard drive full of music or the scads of video games installed on it (what a hassle to lose that!), it's actually the largest repository of photos I have besides the box in the basement.
I would mourn the loss of handmade gifts and memories associated with them, but, aside from my strength of olfactory-triggered memory, my visual memory is right up there and I don't get the same response from a heart-shaped dish my grandmother kept on her dresser as I would of the photo of her sitting on Santa's lap at the family's Christmas Eve party so long ago. The picture of my momma and I sharing a VERY stinky bedroom at a B&B in Salem, Massachusetts one Halloween elicits more emotion than the VERY beautiful, Momma-created ceramic cup. Okay, so I'd grab that too (and the raven necklace). But we're talking only seconds of time and whatever you can hold in your hands (unless you happen to have a backpack in every room...which I seem to).
This question caught me, though, at a time where I just want to get rid of so much "stuff." Things in the basement that are just sitting there...old memories, no-longer-important items, floppy disks and Tae-Bo VHS tapes for Pete's sake. I feel so much better when I purge belongings...actually, now I think I might be on to something. Maybe I should make sure the insurance is up-to-date...
