The horrific fire in Hawaii seems to be one of the most horrible disasters ever. The main thing you noticed was the destruction everywhere.
Neighborhoods, businesses, homes — everything was charred beyond recognition. Block after block was nothing but rubble and blackened foundation. Even boats in the harbor were scorched.
I know this is on a much smaller scale, and not nearly as serious, but this brought back memories of a similar experience Seth and I went through over 50 years ago.
When we first got married, my dad bought us a brand-new furnished mobile home and set it up on some land next to his and my mom’s.
It was a beautiful trailer and even after 50 years I remember a lot about it. Even though we hadn’t moved into it yet, we had most of our bridal shower and wedding gifts in it.
My mom and I had been in the trailer one afternoon, and not long afterward the unimaginable happened. It exploded and burned. It was a total loss. But even worse, we didn’t have any insurance on it. This is what nightmares are made of.
That was only the beginning of our problems. When the fire marshal investigated, he found there was a gas leak and an electrical shortage. The company that sold us the trailer, the manufacturer and the gas company all knew this, but none of them were willing to take the blame and help us out with this.
So we kind of know what it’s like to lose everything — our home, all of our gifts, and no insurance to replace it. To make matters worse, I had just graduated from high school, which meant I didn’t have a job or any hopes of one.
The reason we didn’t have any insurance was, who in the world would have thought that a brand-new mobile home, just set up and waiting to be moved into, would explode and burn out of the blue? Certainly not us.
Since then, Seth and I don’t have anything that isn’t insured. Talk about learning a lesson the hard way. I don’t think they come any harder than ours.
— Debbie Touchstone, Jayess
