I am so excited to go live with our next guest blog post!
And while I assumed her post was going to be about her involvement with Alamo City Moms Blog, her book (The Con Man’s Daughter, which I loved), her spiritual journey (the “Jesus is my jam” phrase makes me think of her, every time I see it), any one of her kids’ amazing accomplishments (they’re all kicking ass in school, in the community, in life!), her trip to Disney this summer (with all of these kids!), or a reference to her much-publicized blog post about co-parenting…
Instead, a sweet, sad, and hopeful look into this summer’s tragedy here in Texas.
“Out Of The Wreckage: A Gift From Hurricane Harvey
Many years ago my daughters’ teacher handed down her dining room table to my family. She was down sizing and we were up sizing. It was perfect. There was a bench on one side, two chairs on the others side, and a chair on each end. Our family of 6 fit perfectly.
Their family got a new table and made new memories.
My family got their old one and began building our own memories.But then we grew.
We added another kid.
My mom moved next door.
Our dear friends moved next door to her.
All of the sudden, our table no longer held us.On most nights we either scattered around the house for dinner or my husband had to pull his office chair up to the table. On more than one occasion we ate in shifts or half of us stood around the stove and balanced our plates while attempting to eat with grace.
We like to be together.
We like big family dinners with our friends and family.
But we don’t like sitting in each others laps.
Our table was old and we outgrew what it had to offer.Then along came Hurricane Harvey. He tore through the Texas coast with a vengeance, twisting everything in his path. He broke the unbreakable and crushed the uncrushable.
He stole.
He destroyed.
He devastated.Like a lot of hard working handy men, my neighbor, who I’ve been friends with since we were 6, headed down south to help clean and rebuild what Hurricane Harvey tried to ruin. He hooked his trailer to his truck and traveled back and forth from home to the coast, helping where he could but coming home to be with his family as often as possible.
One Friday afternoon after another coast trip, he pulled into his driveway and sent me a text; “Can you come outside please”.
I hurried outside to see what was wrong… and on the back of his trailer was what looked like an old beat up picnic table. It was covered in wet sheet rock, mud, and other stuff I didn’t care to identify.“Well, here’s your new dining table.”
He had rescued an 8-foot farm table out of piles of wreckage, and the man he was working for said he could have it.
It had a bum leg and was in need of some serious cleaning, but it fit.
It fit my family and then some. And after a little love, some extra nails, and some Dawn dish soap, it was beautiful.It’s full of bruises, nicks, and even some crayola marks, but it has character and tells a story of two families, one who lost it due to Harvey and one who gained it due to Harvey.Their family will get a new table and make new memories.
My family got their old one and will rebuild what was taken from them.Harvey, try as he might, didn’t leave complete devastation in his wake. He gave little gifts here and there, gifts no one expected.
People helped people and loved on each other in ways we would never have, had Harvey not blown through. Friends were made through sacrifices and giving. Faith was restored through people serving each other and going beyond our normal friendly smile and wave.
We reached down deep, set differences aside. We emptied what we had to fill up what others needed. Without even knowing it, we passed down things and helped others grow.I’m not sure I believe anything is ever a complete loss. I believe there’s always something good to be found in anything. I think beauty sneaks up in the places we least expect it. I think there’s bits and pieces o f redemption in the deeps piles of wreckage. When we dig deep we can find a blessing in anything.”
GUEST POST BY CANDICE CURRY
And ALL the places you can find her and her family making waves:
Her interview with The Open Door Sisterhood
An Open Letter to My Daughter’s Stepmom
My picture of Candice modeling our coconut lemongrass laundry detergent ——————->
