New Stuff

I heard a talk recently about problems associated with going through an event like the earthquake. It seems there are numerous personal issues that can arise in people's lives after such event. The speaker named a few, and there was not much that came up that shocked me, that information is everywhere available for us here in Christchurch. And many of my friends and I have talked about how theses issues have popped up in our selves and our families.

I'm very aware, as we go into distance days from the earthquake, the problems rebound on us. I see that refected in my little four year old, who is suddenly afraid of everything again. All part of that normail process, make progress, fall back alittle, hopefully to turn it around to going forward again.

Okay, I'll admit it, I know that one that bounces back on me occasionally. Easy to guess! High irritability. Small things can just get to me more than usual. Especially small people (and I'm not talking about toddlers!)

The one that did surprise me in this recent talk was envy. I guess people are struggling with others getting insurance payouts that mean new houses, new cars and new stuff. I haven't had much in the way of insurance pay-outs yet. I still don't know if they are going to let me build my house back at the old property. The promised date of information by the end of May is now looming, but I fear it will be a date that passes by with broken promises. So I don't have a new house for anyone to envy at the moment. But I do have a lot of new stuff.

There are some advantages to having lost possessions and replacing them. I quite like having some shiny new kitchen mixing bowls, crock-pot and toaster. Ric and I always wanted a king-size bed and we got it, and I love those new soft sheets! But the new pots and pans are already getting those dark marks at at the bottom, and the plastic handled cutlery we are using until we get a proper insurance payment should cause no one a moment of envy! I'd give up any of those things to have back some things I lost. (Well, could I please keep the bed and the sheets?)

If envy really is a problem, it's one I don't quiet get, not yet at least. Maybe one day in the distant future, IF I'm in a some wonderful new house, and still able to be in a spot as special as by the Avon River (if not there, after all), then maybe someone could have twinge of envy. But I'll show them of the two houses that I was in that were destroyed around me, and maybe they'll just get over it.