Hope

Broken glass, fallen bricks, and collapsing walls surround me, but I cannot seem to fully grasp what has happened. As I walk through a home that is not my home, my heart breaks piece by piece as if it too had faced the terrorizing storm. Then I realize that I do not know a hurt like this truly. I do not know what it is like to see the home that my grandfather built by hand destroyed by wind. Wind! As I carry out each antique, each picture, each memory, the tears refuse to keep to themselves. I'm overwhelmed for this family, the people of Glade Springs, Virginia, and the region that was hit by the historic storms on May 27/28, 2011.

This post cannot be long, and I do not want to post pictures because words simply do not describe the heaviness of my heart and mind. Lives were lost, homes destroyed, heirlooms ruined, life altered. Yet, today, as I sat on the back of a pick up truck eating lunch prepared by a church down the street in Glade, I saw an old man smile. The background of his smile was his shattered home, but in that smile, I saw hope. Hope is our pulse, and we are alive.