The Burning House

“If your house was burning, what would you take with you? It’s a conflict between what’s practical, valuable and sentimental. What you would take reflects your interests, background and priorities. Think of it as an interview condensed into one question.”

I’d been meaning to submit something to The Burning House for a while after becoming addicted to the site last year, but every time I attempted to curate my belongings I hit a barrier. It may sound trite, but for me, the word conflict really sums up the whole process up perfectly. As I looked around my room, I questioned everything; did I really care about saving my laptop? Did that make me a materialistic douchebag? In years to come would I regret not rescuing more photographs? Should I leave everything of monetary value behind and focus purely on the sentimental?

After trying (and failing) a number of times to whittle my life down to a handful of items, I came across A Sentimental-less Dimension – a lovely post written by the equally lovely Spadge. There was something in the familiarity of her words that made me want to try again, and a few minutes later, I emailed Foster Huntington, with my submission. Read more about my entry here.