Piles of Dreams
by Mary Robinson
Most everyday, I ride by the corner of Vaughn Road and Old Hickory Blvd.
And everyday when I ride by that corner I am hit with the same emotions….my stomach goes topsy-turvy, sometimes my eyes fill with tears and always, I am overcome with great sadness.
Sadness for all the flood victims whose lives are being lifted up from their neighborhood streets by big fork lifts and dumped into trucks, then at the corner of Vaughn and Old Hickory the trucks are unloaded by forklifts and their stuff is put into huge piles, piles of rubble…
…piles of what was once dreams fulfilled and the history of families in waterlogged picture albums too long in too much wet to save. Many had antiques in their home.
One lady told me that they put her Grandmothers antique piano on the dining room table to save it, but the water got too high and it floated away down what was once the street.
Another lady was telling me last week at a church dinner for flood victims that her husband had passed away at their home exactly two weeks before the flood and she is so thankful…She said they would have not been able to save him and he would have been worried that they were losing everything. She’s in shock.
I’m not surprised, I can’t imagine how one would begin to put their life back together.
And yet…Everyday I see or hear about folks who are doing just that.
A step at a time, they are meeting with people who can help them and making choices and decisions that have to be made to start their future.
How fortunate we are as we sit here enjoying each others company, sharing conversations and dinner together.
I am blessed to have each of you in my life.
A step at a time, we will all help the flood victims rebuild their lives and look towards the future.
by Mary Robinson
These words and pictures help us share the suffering and move through it. I am grateful to Mary for putting her thoughts and feelings in words for others like me to share. We have to move through sadness to the hope that we have as we keep going, and telling our stories and hearing the stories of others helps us do that.