For 2 families dealing with different types of loss, 'needle in a haystack' brings comfort

When 87-year-old Emma Creese died on June 4, as wildfires devastated communities in two parts of Nova Scotia, her children knew she would have wanted to help any way she could.

Emma's daughter, Susan Creese, learned that a family friend had lost their home in the Upper Tantallon area, so she and her partner immediately offered up some of Emma's belongings. 

Creese described her mother as loving, and always doing things for others. So she wanted to emulate those characteristics at a time when some communities in the province were hurting.

Shauna Keeping, her husband and two daughters had been living in their Westwood Hills home for 11 years until it burned to the ground.

"It was devastating," said Keeping. "It's hard. You know, some days you're doing good and then other days you just think about what you've lost." 

With nothing left from the house but the clothes on their backs, Keeping and her husband decided to look at Emma Creese's household items to see if there was anything they could use. 

What they discovered when they arrived was a shock to all. 

It turns out that the Keepings had the exact same bedroom furniture in their home before they lost it in the fire — a solid oak set they had purchased from Sears over 20 years ago.

"I walked into the room and I couldn't believe it," said Keeping. "It's like [finding] a needle in a haystack." 

The Keepings offered to buy the set from Creese, but she insisted that they take it for free.

More than just furniture

"My mother would be so proud to know that this could transpire, that the generosity she had all of her life is still flowing," said Susan Creese. 

"Here we are, two families on the opposite side of great loss who have come in [and] met in the middle," she said. "In the saddest times of our lives, we've put some happiness in it."

Keeping and her family graciously accepted the gift and the furniture set now lives in their temporary rental while they work toward rebuilding their home. 

She said it's so much more than just furniture.

"It just gives you a little piece of something you're missing," said Keeping. "It's something you're familiar with, something you loved." 

Both Keeping and Susan Creese believe the unlikely situation was meant to be.

"My siblings and I are delighted to know that we could give something that was so meaningful to somebody," said Susan Creese. "I think [my mother and father] are probably just looking down with pride."