As many of you know, I play the piano. To me, pianos are deep and rich with meaning and memories and beauty. I can hardly stand to walk past a piano without sitting down to play it. I want to experience the feel of those particular keys on my fingers, that individual sound that comes from that particular artistry.

While I believe that my own piano made it through Harvey unscathed, it is not currently accessible to me. I miss it with an ache that I didn’t expect when I packed it away with our other things. I realized that the piano is one of the ways that I express feelings. It is a way that I pull stress from my body and cast it away. It is a way to take sadness and turn it into beauty. I wish I hadn’t packed it away.

The stories of the pianos in Harvey are many. As I drive through the neighborhoods, I see pianos on curbs and porches, destroyed by water, left out for trash pickup. A dear friend who I’ve met since Harvey is a widow. Her piano is filled with memories of her husband playing it in happier times before illness took his life. There are many things to let go of, to walk away from, for all of us. But some things are just too hard.

We continue to live with our friends as our house is rebuilt. We now have walls and floors throughout the entire house. The kitchen cabinetry will be built over the next couple of weeks. We root for each small accomplishment and feel so thankful for our contractor who continues to be true to her word, respectful of our property, and clean.

We celebrated Halloween in a new neighborhood this year. I somewhat dreaded its approach, as I knew we couldn’t trick or treat in our neighborhood like we always do. I felt homesick for normal life and prayed to have a good attitude for my kids’ sake. I think our God is a humorous one, as he felt compelled to send us another rainstorm for the entire evening of Halloween. We spent the evening juggling toddlers, candy baskets, and umbrellas while jumping over puddles and trying to keep dry in the torrential downpour. It turned out to be just what I needed, as I found myself laughing so hard at how crazy it all was. The kids had a blast jumping in puddles and getting wet. What a great adventure it turned out to be.

November brought with it a win for the Houston Astros in the World Series. I’ve never been a baseball fan. However, I became one. Dave and I truly enjoyed watching the games with our friends. I learned so much about baseball over the course of those seven games. The energy in Houston during this time was incredible. Everyone was rooting for the Astros because we needed a win for our city. Through all the devastation and loss, we came together to hope and to cheer on the home team. It felt bigger than a baseball game and we all knew it.

I continue to be so proud of the community I live in. There is so much resilience and kindness and hope on display every day. What I also see and feel myself is that we are weary. The days are cloaked in a foggy haze as we go about our lives in “the new normal”, working and tending to our families, while also rebuilding our homes and our lives. Trying to keep up with it all feels too much to handle on some days. But we are all here together to help and to hold each other up on the hard days. And day by day, little by little, progress is made.

I attended a women’s fellowship at our church a couple of nights ago. The event was put on to bring a bit of love to the women of the church who were flooded. There were many speakers who told their flood stories, stories of hope, kindness, and strength. There was a bit of music, lots of laughter and caring. And at the end, the entire room of women sang together. We sang Lean on Me.

Sometimes in our lives we all have pain. We all have sorrow. But, if we are wise, we know that there’s always tomorrow. Lean on me, when you’re not strong. I’ll be your friend. I’ll help you carry on. For, it won’t be long till I’m going to need somebody to lean on.

I’ve heard that song a million times and never though much of it until now. I will learn to play it on my piano when we move back into our home.

I’ve never struggled as much in my life as we have struggled the past few months, but in that struggle is real beauty. I’ve never felt so incredibly supported and loved.

Thank you for loving us.