Disaster 4332

Every once in a while God and Mother Nature hold hands and remind us that we are guests here, both in our physical environment on Earth and in our place in the fabric of time.  We can gather up materials in our surroundings, shape them, paint them, stick them together, and build houses to provide shelter. But we are kidding ourselves if we believe that our engineered infrastructure is any match for the forces of nature.  What cannot be destroyed is the power of humanity to surround, support, and love one another, and that has become so abundantly clear to our family over the last few days.

This monster storm had several names. First depression, then Tropical Storm Harvey, Hurricane Harvey, and now Disaster 4332.  So small and sterile a title for such an enormous catastrophe. If the severity of the disaster is measured in the affected communities' vulnerability and environmental devastation - Disaster 4332 is one of the worst.  In spite of its severity, it is apparently no match for the resilience and determination and love that has proven as prolific as the rain that soaked our homes.

Billy and I have had a few days to reflect on how all of this has affected us, and we have decided that we have come out ahead.  If you measure our experience in losses an gains, it is clearly evident.

Loss:  We are building in Magnolia and plan to finish raising our boys out there, so we moved to an apartment in May of this year, in hopes of selling our home. Clearly the prospect of a home sale, any time soon, has evaporated. We borrowed a couch, table and chairs, a rug, brought our own beds, and packed our suitcases with some clothes and dishes to bring to our apartment.  Unfortunately, we left absolutely everything else we own at our Spring home.  We talked it over and thought it would show better full of our furniture and our things.  We also thought about moving non-furniture items to storage, but thought - hey! this house can be storage, and we are already paying for it. So basically everything on the first floor was ruined. The soft things that didn't get wet, have the stench of mildew and filth soaked in. The clothes are being washed (by beautiful friends), but the furniture and rugs are not salvageable.

Gain: And this is huge ... we have a safe dry place to stay, both for our family and for my parents.  What an amazing blessing that we are not displaced to a hotel. On Monday as we sadly drove away from our flooded homes after trying, at the last minute, to put things up high, we were not at all unsure of where we would go.  We already had a place to stay! At no point during this did I have the stress of worrying about a contingency plan, or whether or not my little ones were safe, or when it was time to go or time to stay.  This is not true for many (if not most) of my friends and neighbors.  So many people have no where else, no one else, and now - nothing to go home to.  Billy and I (except for losing possessions) are business as usual!

Loss:  There was 1-2 feet of water in our home. This means removal and reconstruction of all of the wood floors, cabinets, walls/sheet rock (lower third), appliances, shelving, carpets, and soaked contents. One of the bath tubs came out, the AC was underwater, and some of the electrical has to be redone.  The smell on the first day we returned was unbelievable - but has steadily been improving.

Gain:  Many people flooded up to their roof! We had several items that we moved up to the second floor that are fine.  In hind-sight, I wish I had believed the predictions that we would be underwater by the end of this and moved most everything up there, but I can't go back and undo that now. I can celebrate that my little guys' clothes and pictures and personal items were safe and sound on the second floor and some of our chairs were up there too! I can also take comfort in the fact that sweet friends have offered to help paint and sheet rock and repair once we reach that point.  Our builder has offered to help us in any way he can with his tradesmen.  Our generous parents have offered to help us out with rebuild.  And finally we will probably qualify for a loan from FEMA since we did not have flood insurance, that will lend us what we need to rebuild and then we can pay it back.

Loss: Flood insurance -- sigh.  Oh how I wish I had listened to more than one person who told me I needed it.  It was a nominal cost and easy to get, but I turned my nose up at it, and I have felt the sting of that choice more than once this past week.

Gain: FEMA has made it possible to help other people like us who thought it would happen to everyone else to get help.  It requires that we get flood insurance now, and then provides small business-type loans to get your rebuild going.  Amazing!!

Loss: The labor-intensive and slightly heartbreaking job of demolishing what is left of your home and taking it out to the curb in loads of debris was physically and emotionally draining.

Gain:  People continued to show up for us.  Friends I hadn't clapped eyes on in over a decade bringing boxes and food. Friends who have known less than a year bringing supplies and sustenance.  Dear friends who dropped everything and came and worked.  Old friends who called in favors for us.  Strangers from our church who showed up in droves to clean out our home and offer support.  People brought us food, washed our clothes, fed our volunteers, gave me a shoulder to lean on, checked on us, reached out to us, opened their homes to us, prayed for us, hugged us, bent over backwards for us ... it goes on and on.  Any time I felt the sadness creep in over my things - I was touched by someone who helped bring me back down.  That is just what those are, they are things and that is a house. All can be replaced.  So if you reached out to us and even if I didn't need something at that moment, your call or text or fb message was uplifting, heartwarming and deeply appreciated.

Loss: Billy's foot was injured on Friday while working on our home, so he has some limitations now for working on the repairs.

Gain: It looked to be a lot worse than it was, and there is no concern for loss of function.  Also, I have a work family who offered love and support and a whole lot of prayer for us while we waited to hear more.  They checked on us, prayed hard for us, and continue to pour out support.  And for that, I am truly grateful.

In the end, we came out ahead.  Disaster 4332 has been a gentle reminder for us about what is most important,  what our job is with the time we have here, and ultimately will make us better human beings.  To the friends who continue to offer help, I can never repay your kindness.  Please know that however small the gesture felt from your side of things, it was felt so enormously from mine. God has been good to us, we see that so clearly.