Blessed Beyond The Storm

There are moments in your life when time stands still…. My moment started August 24, 2017, lasting till August 31, 2017, due to an uninvited house guest Hurricane Harvey.

I am so desperately fatigued that I can’t hardly speak coherently, my body and mind are too exhausted to function properly.

It’s strange what we fixate on when your life is being destroyed before your very own eyes.

For a solid week, I have been fixated on the news to learn anything and everything about Hurricane Harvey. Emails, text, messages, and phone calls have brought heartbreak and devastation with each one of them but they also brought love, compassion, kindness, sympathy, and understanding.

For as long as I can remember I have always tried to find something positive in everything good or bad that life brings my way.

I must confess this time has not been so easy. I don’t know if it’s because I am tired of all the struggles life has brought my way, is it because I am older, because I am too tired, or is it because of seven days straight of being afraid out of your mind and watching nonstop the destruction of your home, your neighbor’s home, your family’s home, your community, your county, your state seven solid days of destruction.

How many times can a soul be shattered till it no longer exists?  How many times can a heart be broken till it no longer beats?

I am beyond numb, my pain has pain, my fatigue is exhausted, my grief has sorrow and my destruction is destroyed. There are no words to express to make anyone understand what and how this feels.

We have lost a lot, but not everything, like my neighbors whose homes are "missing". It will take a long time to get back to the life before Hurricane Harvey and we may never will but we will smile again, be happy again and love life again.

As the trailer I evacuated to was slowly being destroyed, I sat at the television watching our community be destroyed.

I realized that between the river of tears I was crying there were teardrops of gratitude, admiration, appreciation, and joy.

I held together while being broken, I was strong while feeling weak, I pretended to be okay while being fragile.  I was struggling to be positive when listening to the bird's chirp as the sun rose and brought light to the devastation and reality of my new life.

And what a beautiful life it is!

My daughter and my grandchildren, my family and friends are alive, there are some I am still trying to locate, but no life lost for us so far. Some lost some and some lost all, but we are all accounted for.

So many can’t say that. I watched the news where it showed an elderly couple waiting for 6 loved ones to be brought up from the bayou that was submerged.

I can’t continue about this; the sorrow is too much.

I watched story after story about volunteers, first respondents, policeman, firemen and so many others who left their families to do their “job”. All the while, scared they would be losing loved ones or friends or their homes just as we were. No that's not exactly the truth they had to be more afraid because they were with all of us and not their families. So they dealt with everything we were going through as they were going through it without knowing if their loved ones were safe or their homes weren't being destroyed.

Maybe one day I will be able to write about every beautiful thing that Hurricane Harvey brought or allowed to see about my wonderful state of Texas and from people all over the world.

My heart, body, and soul are too fragile to be able to do this today.

Today I am so grateful to have witnessed such compassion and love for mankind during such heartbreaking devastation and be alive to write about it.
It was beautiful.....

There was no color of skin only the truth of one’s heart.

There were no status or religion or race just people.

There was no division of politics just united people.
Just people taking care of people...

Hurricane Harvey may have brought destruction and devastation but the true Human Spirit of this event CHANGED my life.

And if I have the courage to be truthful it changed it for the better.

I am no longer hopeless about the world around me because Harvey exposed its heart and soul

right before my own eyes.

I am not relying on news media, or second-hand stories or half truths or lies being told.

I know the truth, I seen it, felt it, witnessed it and lived through it.

Hurricane Harvey may have BLOWN US APART, but the spirit of fellow Texans and others pieced us back together.

I have no words and will never be able to thank all the people who helped and continue to help and will continue to do so for months to come.

I was blessed beyond the storm to be able to witness the works of people who in disguise are heroes and angels.

To all of you who offered assistance and help in any way including prayers, good vibes, and kind words…

May you always know joy in your life.

Thank you with all that I am.

This was taken right before Harvey made landfall, my grandson and grand furry son.

There are no words to express my appreciation and gratitude to my wonderful AS family for giving me a lifeline.

Today I am grateful to have seen the beauty of the human spirit and experienced it first hand.