My treasure Irreplaceable人生珍品 [1] Recently, I have a party for some close friends. To add a touch of elegance to the evening, I have the good stuff - my white Royal Crown Derby China with the delicate blue and gold border. When we sit, one of the guests noticed the beat-boot-up sauce, which I have the newer, better gear. "Is it an heirloom?" she asked tactfully. [2] I admit the play rather than striking. For one thing, it fits nothing else. It is also old and chipped. But the small boat sauce is more than an heirloom to me. It is one thing in this world, I will never part with. [3] The story begins more than 50 years ago, when I seven years old and we lived in a big house on the Ohio River in wow goldNew Richmond, Ohio. All those between the river from the road and our large front lawn. In anticipation of high water, on the ground floor had been built seven meters above the level. [4] At the end of December the heavy rains came and the river rose to the tops of the banks. When the water began to rise in a serious way, my parents, the plans for the case of the river should invade our house. My mother decided she would pack our books and their Fine China in a little out of the bedroom. [5] China was not nearly as good as it was old. Each piece had a gold rim and band of roses. But the service was her mother and her precious. As she packed, which China with great care, she said to me: "You have to treasure the things that people you love are maintained. It keeps you in touch with them." [6] I have not understood, because I never heard what I cared that much about all. Nevertheless, planning for disaster rather considerable fascination for me. [7] The plan was to move upwards when the river reached the seventh, the steps to the front terrace. We would be a rowboat to the bottom, so that we could benefit from room to room. The only thing we did not do was leave the house. My father, the town is the only doctor, had to be where sick people could be him. [8] I rise on the river several times a day and lives in a state of alarm hoping that the water would rise all the way to the house. It did not disappoint. The muddy water rose higher, until finally wow goldthe critical seventh step has been reached. [9] We have for days, things up until the end of one afternoon, the water is slightly above the threshold and crashed into the house. I watched, amazed at how fast they are. [10] After the water was about a foot deep in the house, it was hard to sleep at night. The sound of the river below was frightening move. Debris had windows, so that every once in a while some floating battering ram - a protocol, or perhaps a table - would bang into the walls and a sound like a distant drum. [11] Every day I sat on the landing and saw the river rise. Mother cooked simple meals in a spare room, she had turned into a makeshift kitchen. She was worried that I could say what would happen to us. Father came and went in a small fishing boat. He was concerned about his patients and the possible outbreak of dysentery, typhoid fever or pneumonia. [12] It was not long, the Red Cross tents to high ground north of the city. "We stay here," said my father. [13] As the water continued to increase, I have always busy rowing through the house and goes on the furniture, was too large to move up. I liked the series around the large comfortable couch, now almost under, and say it was an island in a lake. [14] A very late night I was awakened by a tearing noise, such as wood squeak. Then there was the resentment of the sound of heavy things fall. I jumped out of bed and ran into the hallway. My parents stood in the doorway to the in which we had stored the books, and my mother loved China. [15] The bottom of the fell through, and all the treasures we've tried, were now on the first floor, secretly under the rising river. My father lit our camp and we went to the landing to see. We could see nothing except the books, like little rafts bobbing on the water. [16] mother was courageous, it seemed, through the examination of the flood. She was stable and quiet, and held, resulting in a good condition. But on this night she sat on the top of the stairs with his head on the crossed arms and wept. I had never seen her, and it was a sound in their wines, which I fear. I wanted to help her, but I could not believe what I could do. I knew I had to find out what. [17] The next morning, after breakfast, I have a geography lesson and mother said I could get down and play in the boat. wow goldI once rowed around the stairs down to the mess of the timbers in the hall, where the terrible accident. The books had begun to fall. I stared into the dark water and could see nothing. It was right that I have the idea. [18] I have a wire coathanger hooks and carefully attached it to a weighted line. Then I let it sink and began to drag it slowly back and forth. I spent the next hour or so moving the boat and pull my line - in the hope of finding my mother's piece of the lost treasure. But from time to time the line was empty. [19] As the water rose from day to day, I try again a few remnants of my mother broke China. Soon, however, the water inside, she was on the staircase is located. On the day that water, beyond the gutter, my father decided that we should seek shelter in the tents on the hill. A motorboat was to us this afternoon. We leave from the roof terrace. [20] I am hurriedly securing things in my room. Then I got into my boat for the last time. I moved my line through the water. Nothing. After some time I heard my parents call, so I am back on the stairs. Just as my last round, I snagged something. [21] Holding my breath, I think the slow start to the surface. As the dark water drained from it, I could be the bright roses and gold leaf design. It seemed brilliant. I had found the gravy boat from my mother's china service. My line was caught on a small chip in the lip. [22] My father called me again. "This is a serious matter," he said. "Let's go." So I stashed the treasure in my jacket and rowed as fast as I could on the staircase is located. [23] The boat picked up and led us to higher ground. It started to rain, and for the first time I was really scared. The water could go up forever, could change the whole valley, the trees, the mountains. [24] By the time we were in a tent in the Red Cross, we were worn out. Father was made to care for sick people, and the mother sat on my cot with her arm around my shoulder. She smiled at me, if you call it that. Then I got under my pillow and pulled the gravy boat. [25] She looked at him, then me. Then she took him in her hands and held it for a long time. She was very quiet, just sitting, look at the gravy boat. It seemed near to me and also very far away, as if they remember. I do not know what they think, but she pulled me into her arms and held me firmly. [26] We lived in a tent for weeks, cold and often hungry. Since the flood Crested, an oil slick caught fire and burned down our house on the water line. We have also never again. Instead, we are in a home near Cincinnati, far from the river. [27] With Easter we were settled, and we celebrate that special Sunday with a celebration. While dad carved the lamb, the mother went into the kitchen and returned with the sauce boat. She was my gift for a moment as if it was something indescribably valuable. Then, smiling at me, she placed it gently on the table. I said to myself then that right nothing will ever happen, that the gravy boat for as long as I lived. [28] And not always has. Now I use the sauce boat as if they carefully from the shelf and it just as it was, with dark, rich sauce Turkey for family dinners and other special occasions. If guests wow goldask curious about the old dish, I sometimes tell the story of how I fished him out of the river in our house. [29] But on the events of the flood, the gravy boat is a treasure that connects me with people and the places of my past. Mother tried to explain, and now I understand. It is not the object, as much as the connection that I cherish. The small porcelain boat, chipped and worn with age, keeps me in touch - as they said they would - with their lives, their joy and their love.