What a difference a year makes

The last few days have been fairly emotional for me. As many of your remember, on September 13, 2008 Hurricane Ike hit the Texas coast and caused unbelievable damage to our home and changed our lives in a dramatic fashion. Well the anniversary of the storm hitting was Sunday, but honestly that was not the big anniversary for me, and although it was something to stop and remember, it was not the event that makes me emotional. Today is the day, one year ago today we were finally allowed into our town to see our house. You know how somethings are forever etched in your mind, the first kiss, the loss of a family member, well for me it was the afternoon of September 15, 2008. The husband and I got a phone call from his sister that we could finally get to the house. When we jumped in the truck we were filled with relief that we would finally know what happened and at the same time filled with dread of what we would find.

As we drove to the house from my parents, the husband was on the phone with his sister (who got to the house first) and was told that it was bad, but he did not tell me what she said. Instead, he stopped our truck right before we were about to turn down our road and told me that no matter what happened and no matter what we saw when we got to our house, that the most important thing was that we were both fine and we would make it through whatever we found. This is only one of the thousands of reasons that I love him. And then he told me that we did have a little water in the house. Talk about the understatement of the century!

So as you are all aware, we did get to our house and had about 4 1/2 feet of water and sewage in the house during the storm. I don't know that there are words for what I felt at the moment we walked into the house. I think it was a mixture of sadness, shock, and worry about what to do first. I remember crying immediately and just about falling down. As we walked through the house trying to see where everything stood, we got to the extra bedroom where the cherry blanket chest my father, brother, and grandfather made for me as a wedding gift was kept. I think that was the second worst moment of that day and honestly, I had not gotten over the first moment. But that is when my husband became an incredibly strong man and carried it out of the house to the truck, all by himself! He was convinced that if he could not fix anything else that day, that he would save my blanket chest...and he did. Again, just yet one more reason I am lucky to have him. We got it back to my parents and he and my dad clamped it together and after several months in traction it is back to nearly perfect. It was a very important thing for me because of the sentimentality attached to it with the wedding and the effort that went into it, but now it is even more important because of the additional memories associated with it.

As I sit here writing this, I am crying, not so much from sadness but as a memory of all of the things that the husband and I have been through in such a short time. We were married 18 months ago today, 12 months ago today we lost nearly all of our earthly possessions to a horrific natural disaster, 6 months ago today our fantastic contractor gave us the keys to our home and we stayed in our brand new old house for the first time (sleeping on a futon-one of the three pieces of furniture that was delivered in time) , and today we are sitting in a beautiful home with furniture and memories forever thankful that we have each other to support and take care of each other.

So needless to say, it has been quite a year. Thank you for indulging me in the memories, it just seemed like this day needed to be commented on and honestly, I think I needed to talk about it but just don't want to talk, so here is to blogging my way through.

I don't know that any words will ever be able to express our gratitude to the friends, family, and strangers that did so much for us during the very difficult times following the hurricane. From offering us a place to stay during the evacuation, to helping us throw away everything in our house, to helping us try to save the few things we had left, to helping us find a contractor, giving us a place to live, helping to make our new house feel like home, or just supporting us on the hard days and helping us find the good days. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart, and please know that if you ever need anything, I only hope that I can be there for you as you were for us.

And last but not least , I want to say something just to my husband. I am so thankful that I had you there to be my rock, I can't imagine how I would ever get through something like that without you. And I am thankful everyday that I will never have to know. I love you!