#HurricaneHarvey

Hurricane Harvey. Unless you’ve lived under a rock for the last week, you’ve heard about Hurricane Harvey. He brewed and churned in the Gulf for days. Then made his grand, unwelcome entrance on the Texas coast on Friday.  Everyone knew he’d be trouble. Everyone knew he’d overstay his welcome. But I don’t know that anyone knew how much damage Harvey would continue to cause.

Our first thoughts were with Rockport. We have family with places there. They got their homes boarded and grabbed possessions and evacuated. But have no idea if there are even homes to return to. Or how long it will be before they can even access the area to find out.

Then our thoughts were on our own area. Just over 200 miles from where this massive hurricane made landfall, we initially had some potential for some pretty nasty flooding. Then the storm shifted. It’s funny how the shift that saved us, put my parents and so many friends directly in the path of massive destruction.

A shift I should be so grateful for because we got some rain, and we needed it. We cooled off by about 25 degrees and that makes this fall loving girl happy. But it’s so hard to feel grateful knowing that the flood waters are just yards from reaching my parents’ backyard. Knowing that over a dozen tornadoes have touched down, some less than a mile, from my parents’ home. It’s hard to feel grateful knowing I have friends who are already flooded out of their homes. Their workplaces are flooded. Their schools are flooded.

Texas is in a catastrophic way right now. And it’s nowhere near the end of this mess. It’s hard to watch. It’s helpless to watch. But ya know what else? Texas is strong. Texas is resilient. It’s something built into us at birth. When life hits, Texas hits back. Hard. Seeing the best in people who are donating, sending supplies, coordinating volunteer efforts. Businesses who are swinging their doors wide open so people have a safe place to retreat, grocery stores bringing food to the people (I love my HEB). In these last 3 days, we haven’t seen Republicans or Democrats. We haven’t seen race or religion.  We haven’t seen position or financial status. We’ve seen people. People.

Why does it take a Cat 4 Hurricane to get us here? I think it’s a little because this catastrophic event doesn’t see those things. It doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t care. So while this storm keeps pounding Texas, Texas will keep pounding back. We’ll keep showing that we’re stronger than this storm. We’ll keep showing that we’ll bounce back and we’ll do it well. We’ll keep showing that we rally around our people. And if you’re Texan, you’re our people.

While we wait for this to pass (we still have DAYS of this non-sense) we covet your prayers. As we come to the place where we can take action, I’ll be sharing on my Facebook page ways you can give, contribute, participate. As you watch this unfold on the news in front of you, know there are real people, real stories, real lives represented in every one of those stories. And know that every.single.one of us are #TexasStrong.