Go, Do, See Welcome to Beau Welcome to beautiful Colorado! The only thing is, some of it isn’t so picturesque any more. Recently, I was given the opportunity to see firsthand the devastation from the forest fire which ravaged portions of a once scenic area. I expected to see some parched ground and scorched trees. I did not anticipate miles and miles of barren nothingness. Why would anyone go sightseeing in such an area? I have absolutely no idea, but having seen it, I can now understand the hopelessness being felt by landowners. Lest that sound like a bit of hypocrisy, allow me to explain why we were there. Sightseeing was not our purpose. I was with a Southern Baptist Disaster Relief team assembled specifically to help property owners with their clean up efforts. “Many hands make light work” is a quote which was proven once again to be oh-so true, especially in this situation. I didn’t know what to expect. Many times during my life, I listened to the story of the day my grandparent’s home burned. As the story goes, my grandmother had been washing dishes so she took her wedding ring off and laid it in a little dish in the window sill over the sink. She forgot to put it -34- | WEEKENDEREXTENDED.COM ~ July, 2021
back on before they went to town for supplies. Someone in town told them the news of their home burning. By the time they returned, it was a total loss. But since she knew where to look, they poked around in the ashes until they found her diamonds encased in the now melted dish. I never cared for the motif of her new wedding set, but the story of how it was designed to include her original stone makes it especially sentimental to the family. For this reason, I am able to empathize with those who have lost everything. Each has been given the opportunity to list any items which they would hope to have recovered. That’s where we come in. Our volunteers sifted through an entire lifetime of accumulated memories in the form of momentos, decorations and collections. There was rejoicing and
