A Promise Kept

©Theresa Grillo Laird - Breath of Spring - oil on linen - 10x9"
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Three weeks, a tornado hit Pensacola about a mile from where I live. A week earlier, straight line winds missed damaging my residence by a much closer margin. Driving past 3 storey houses reduced to a heap of match sticks on the ground, I thanked God once again that no one was killed.

I've lived through the complete destruction of my home from a hurricane and tidal surge, so I know what people recently made homeless are going through. 
One memory will always stand out to me of the many remarkable things that happened in the aftermath of the storm that cleared away everything I owned.

All the trees had been stripped bare, so it looked like a northern winter even though it was only mid September. Wreckage of houses piled 8 feet high,

lined the sides of the road like strange snowbanks. Yards that had been enclosed by tropical vegetation were now open to the sky and water and were marked by toppled and uprooted trees. The evidence of people's lives lie twisted in the trees and swirled by receding water into moldy clumps piled against the remains of houses.

Yet in the middle of all the destruction, nature's life sprouted again, defiant in it's fresh beauty. Trees set out new flowers as if it was Spring. Sunflowers sprouted next to chunks of broken concrete. Children ran barefoot and shirtless in summertime warmth and sunshine that prevailed into late December. I marveled at this Creation that could give such beauty and hope to thousands who had lost all they possessed overnight. It was as if to say this is the real life!

Now, whenever things seem overwhelming in life or insurmountable in art, I remember that September Spring and know once again that all is well.