Surviving the Storm of Life by Autumn Storm

By now many of you know that Texas has been dealt a pretty severe blow. There’s no getting away from it….it’s been on the news and headlines across the nation read….Galveston-Houston area crippled by Texas size storm. Mandatory evacuation orders were issued; towns and communities forced into lock downs because of damage to their communities. Everywhere you look, there is debris….power poles are down….electricity is out….and tree limbs litter our yards. Some will be forced to move….everything they’ve worked for….their dreams along with their homes, their cars and their boats….have been swept away by the sea. Bits of our history and the things we are made of…are gone…huge massive Oaks, sweeping Magnolias, along with some really big Pecan trees…..are gone…..they have proudly stood for a hundred plus years and now ripped from the ground….they are dying a very slow death. In one way or another we have all been affected….each of us mourning different things.

I have to admit….I am very affected by the damage to our beautiful trees. They are in shock and screaming at us to bring order to their branches. They are tattered and torn and it will be a long time before any of them start to recover.

Now….I know most of you are probably thinking that something must have fallen and hit my head….truth is….I too have lost a home to weather. If I may….let’s travel back in time….May 19, 2000….it has already rained off and on for three days. Just a few short months before….eight to be exact…my husband (of twelve years) and I had finally purchased our first home…a nice little place in the country. The skies are black and the weatherman talks of another night’s worth of rain….the power goes out. With little else to do….I curl up on the bed to sleep. A few hours later I am awaken by the dogs jumping on the bed with wet feet. It takes me a few minutes to fully realize what’s happening and by then I could hear the water rushing into my home….the phone is out….the husband is gone on business trip….I think most of you can fill in the rest of the gaps. Nineteen inches of rain in four hours resulted in my home being filled with 3 to 3.5 feet of water. It took days for the water to recede and then we embarked on the long road to recovery. Long story short….with lots of hard work, money (didn’t have flood insurance) and determination we rebuilt our home and lived in it until just recently…. Now three floods later… it belongs to FEMA.

Please don’t misunderstand me….I ‘m not making light of anyone losing their home….it’s an indescribably tragedy, a void that may or may not ever get filled… and one that some will have a hard time recovering from. A home is a place where we are meant to feel safe….a place to share laughter with family and friends….and a place to live and grow old in. Some will mourn the loss of their house and some will mourn the contents they lose……so now at this point you are probably wondering what did I mourn back then…..?

My books….In the process of putting up shelving many of the books were down on the floor in boxes. I cried as boxes of books were dumped into a 40 yard dumpster. It was a twenty year collection….authors and titles no longer in print….Even to this day I look back and think about all the friends that I was forced to let go of….the travels they took me on….and the friendships I was given. Just the other day someone gave me a copy of Sweet Savage Love….I caressed the book and held it close….giving it its rightful place on the book case….I patted the spine and told Ginny and Steve….welcome home.

Many of us in Texas come from a lineage of pioneers….we will set about and forge new paths for ourselves….just doing what needs to be done. The builders will build and restore….the farmers will plant, encouraging Mother Nature to replenish its land….and the writers….well….we’ll write…. telling the stories that need to be told.

A Death in Texas from L&L Dreamspell: ISBN: 9781603180511 is scheduled to be launched at Katy Budget Books on Friday, October 10 from 5 PM to 8 PM and features 16 talented authors delivering mystery, mayhem, and murder. If you’re in neighborhood….please stop by and say hello….would love to meet you all.


Autumn Storm
Secrets of Canyon Lake