In the summer of my eleventh year the home I had grown up in burned to the ground in the m
iddle of the night. Thankfully, my Mom, Dad, Nana, brothers, and I escaped along with our
dogs. Yet, we had nothing but the night clothes we were sleeping in. I spent the rest of
that night with friends of our family trying unsuccessfully to sleep in a bed in
their attic. I was too scared to doze off, though. I didn't know what lay ahead for us.
The next day my Mom brought me a few t-shirtsand pairs of jeans given to her
by another friend. One pair of them was too short and the other pair too long
but I didn’t care. At least I had some clothes again.
Meanwhile my Dad had returned to blackened wreckage of our home to see what
he could find. The only thing he could save was my Mom’s wedding rings. The plastic cas
e she had put them in that night had melted around them and shielded them from the flames.
As the summer days wore on my Dad was able to rent us a dusty old house by the side of the
road near where our old house had been. As we moved in I watched as family, friends and o
ur community continued to donate all they could to help us get back on our feet. There was
more clothes, furniture, food, money, and even some books for me to read. Looking back no
w I am grateful for all we went through that Summer because it taught me so much about lif
e, love, and people. It showed me that when you have nothing left but love, for the first
time you see that love is enough. May you always have “Enough” then for all the days of yo
ur life here.