Our homes are filled with treasured items – they secure our identity, our worth, and even preserve our legacy. Yet if an unfortunate event occurs where you need to act quickly, do you know which items you will grab before heading to safety?

 Every year, hurricanes, wildfires, and other natural disasters increase in severity and frequency. Last September, safe at home outside Philadelphia, my husband and I watched in horror as the Glass Fire ravaged the Napa Valley in California. The beloved grassy knoll at Meadowood where we got engaged and later married became a wasteland. The footage of firefighters working 50-hour shifts and people packing all that they could fit in their cars as quickly as possible was beyond heartbreaking. 

“We all hope to never be in this situation,” states Janet Connor, managing director for AA Insurance services in an article posted by AA about what people grab first in a fire. “But just considering the prospect for a minute makes us think about what we hold important to us.” 

These moments serve as a harsh reminder of how precious life is, how quickly it can be gone. The possibility of being evacuated from your home forces you to make decisions about which items are most important to you, and how to best protect them. We have a fireproof safe that holds all of our most important documents, should the worst ever come to pass.

Yet I still think about the items used and displayed around our home; what would I take with me if I had time to safely grab a few things?

• My laptop that now stores all my digital photos and videos,
• Scrapbooks of my kids,
• Our wedding album,
• And one other invaluable item I would be devastated to lose—our vow books

 

The Facts Behind the Emergency Grab

According to The Washington Post, “Nearly 1 in 3 Americans live in a county hit by a weather disaster in the past three months.”  When faced with the choice of whether to grab items of monetary or sentimental value before fleeing for safety, 7 out of 10 people will take the risk according to AA Insurance in a poll of over 18,000 of its members. The most popular items taken during the mad dash to safety? Laptops and other electronics, photograph albums, and--and this caught and held my attention--family heirlooms. That is exactly what our AofE vow books are to us: treasures to be passed on to future generations, heirlooms that tell the story of our love. 

 

An Icon of Your Love and Commitment

Vow books contain your most sacred promises to each other. These small books serve as a powerful memento of what sits at the core of your marriage, as well as the values you wish to impress upon your children. Our vows showcase values of mutual respect and kindness; the importance of standing together, but leaving space to continue to grow and learn as individuals; and they illustrate that unconditional love means seeing and appreciating each other for who we are today, not what we want each other to become. Your vow books serve as your North Star, always pointing us back home to each other.

 

The Art of Etiquette is Everlasting

AofE has designed a line of heirloom keepsakes: vow books, a guest book, and an anniversary book to preserve and pass on your love story to future generations. With the utmost attention to detail and quality, these beautiful pieces are meant to be displayed in your home, commemorations of where you have been, where you are going, and what you want to impart to those that follow you. Our new cloche displays for vow books will be a stunning addition to your home, allowing them to transcend from wedding keepsake to a daily visual reminder of the life you are building together, and the values you share.

 

Make Your Plan Now

We all hope never to experience a natural disaster or other crisis forcing us from our homes. But the reality is that it could happen to anyone. So why not be prepared? Make a plan ahead of time, when you can think rationally and with clarity about those things that are most important to you. Which items hold the most worth for you? Which are irreplaceable? Important papers can often be reproduced, and technology if often backed up in the cloud. But other items, like your AofE vow books, are priceless heirlooms that can never truly be replicated. We encourage you to preserve the legacy of your love story by adding them to your emergency grab list today!