SURE SIGNS

When we first heard the news of what had happened here in Wimberley, we were stuck here in our little citadel. Protected. Isolated. It didn't seem quite real. Yesterday, I finally got out and about, and there were signs everywhere. Then the truth began to sink in, becoming more personal.

All of these bright red vehicles hauling heavy equipment, spotted over in Kyle, was the first sign. Later I ran into about 30 of the men they belonged to, grabbing a quick bite of lunch. Their t-shirts identified them as a Dallas Urban Search & Rescue team. I was tempted to go give each and every one of them a great big hug, to thank them for their assistance, but didn't.

Later I came across this on Facebook. My friend LaNell's brother and sister-in-law have been comfortably retired in Wimberley for many years, and very active in the community. LaNell and Susan were even planning to go to Lucky Star Art Camp with me this fall. Now Susan's home is severely damaged, their rental property that was a major source of their retirement income is gone, and they had no flood insurance, assuming their property was in a safe location.

That evening we waited 30 minutes to get across the damaged RR12 bridge, and finally got a close-up view of Wimberley's "new landscape." When we pulled into Brewster's Pizza, we spotted two gals going in, wearing Wellies -- a sure sign they'd spent the day clearing flood debris. It wasn't until we got up close that we realized one of them was Lexi's beloved wedding coordinator, from Cypress Creek Event Center -- the darling one who showed up in flapper attire, despite being eight or nine months pregnant! Unfortunately, the flooded house they'd been working on was her own, and she and her little family have been forced to move in with her parents out near Canyon Lake. On the upside, our wedding venue remains unharmed, despite being on the banks of Cypress Creek.

One thing, however, did make me smile that evening. As we were sitting in our favorite circular booth at Brewster's, my back to the window, Hubby looked up and said "Uh-Oh, here comes another gardener." "How can you tell?", I replied, craning to see what he was looking at. "That lady who's coming in the door just swiped her hand along some leaves as she was passing, then lifted her fingers to her nose -- just like you always do!", he said with a grin. He's right. A sure sign that someone is a gardener at heart, is it not?