Surviving devastation, they come together
“We were living in the dream home we had built for our family, when there was this rare flood. We had like 4 feet of water in our house. We were not in the 100-year flood plain, and we did not have flood insurance. So we had to pay out of our pocket to fix it all back up. We lived upstairs while they remodeled the bottom floor.
“Then, approximately four months later, our house burned to the ground. It was an electrical fire. They said it was a faulty furnace. We were very fortunate that nobody was home at the time.
“Still, it was devastating. You can’t imagine what it’s like losing everything. You suddenly realize that you don’t even have the basics. You can’t brush your teeth or comb your hair, or even have a clean pair of underwear. But we did have community. We had our church. Family, friends and others we didn’t know came together to help us.
“And as hard as the flood and fire were, the most difficult thing for me was later losing my husband, Bubba Massengale, when he was 45. He had AML, a real aggressive type of leukemia. We had been high school sweethearts. I was married to him for 28 years. He was such a good man, and he kept a real positive attitude. When other people would get down, he was the one to lift them up. It was rough, watching him go through all of that.
“But God has really blessed me, because I’ve been married to Mike Meredith now for 16 years. He worked with my husband for 20-something years, and they were good friends and hunting buddies. Mike lost his wife when she was 45 also. She had a rare lung disease called Alpha-1. She went through a lung transplant, but it wasn’t successful. Mike and I had always just been friends. Neither one of us would have dreamed that we’d be brought together like we were.
“I think what we’ve both gone through has made us stronger. If someone had told me that I would go through all of that with Bubba, I’d have just thrown in the towel and said, ‘I give up. I just can’t.’ But I believe it’s a God thing. The good lord has brought me through everything, I’m telling you that.”
— Brenda Meredith
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