My house is filled with far too many objects purchased and given. The objects that mean the most are the ones related to my family and friends. This iron piece is unlike other objects in my house due to the fact it was found and the deep sadness in invokes in me.
It was a year after Katrina hit. I went to Pass Christian, Mississippi in June with a group to help rebuild. The devastation was still everywhere clothes hanging in trees, front steps that led nowhere, tent cities near the cemetery and in some areas a stench from things still rotting. Many people had left the area because they were homeless and jobless but the people that did remain were thankful to have people there to try and help them. What I felt most often from these people was they all wanted to tell their story. It was a way in which helped them cope. One women, who reminded me of Katherine Hepburn, was in her 80’s and told the story of sitting on the top of her stairs and watching the water come up to the middle of her staircase. She decided to chance going down the stairs and grabbing a silver candlestick and special things that belonged to her mother off the mantel. In doing so a floating chair hit her leg and injured it and she was hospital for months due to an infection.
I found this piece of fencing when clearing a lot with a wonderful ocean view. It made me wonder about the family and their stories, who before Katrina, lived in the house on the beach where the fleur-de-lis fence securely surrounded them.
We all have stories that form our history and who we are. I left Mississippi being thankful and grateful to be able to go home. I will never forget the people and the stories told to me and the many one’s I imagined from the experience.
-Gifted Object
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