Published on January 24th, 2005.
Viewed 2104 times.
Story rank of 165.
Sometimes you can't see the rainbow for the rain but when the sun comes out, boy does it shine! Always have faith and love will prevail!
TALE OF TWO FLOODS
In this life, God gives us many good things. Every once in a while, He might throw us for a curve by letting us live through some things that are not very good at all. However, I have come to realize that He allows us to experience these times to make us stronger people. These bad times also make us appreciate all that we do have in this life. It is during these moments that we realize that without the rain, there cannot be rainbows. It is with this in mind that my story begins.
October 17, 1998 – My wedding day, the day that girls dream of their entire lives. My fiancé, Otis, and I had prepared for our wedding day for over a year and now the day was here – with a few unexpected turns.
My story actually begins on August 24, 1998. This was another exciting day – Otis and I were going to have our engagement picture taken. I was so thrilled that we were taking our pictures exactly one year to the day after Otis had asked me to be his bride. After I finished teaching school for that day, I went to my parents’ house. My mom was on the phone and I waited for her to finish her call so that I could discuss our latest wedding plans. However, my joy turned to sadness when my mother got off of the phone. Del Rio, Texas was being inundated with torrential rain, and the National Guard was asked to come help with flood relief. My father was one of those asked to help. His job was to drive the lead truck used to re-fuel the helicopters that were rescuing flood victims. On his way to Del Rio, he was involved in an accident. My mother was told that he was doing fine, but she and I both had a bad feeling that all was not well.
Otis and I went and had our engagement pictures taken. After we were finished, we stopped back at my mom’s house. As I walked in, my mom and younger brother were standing by the kitchen table. When I looked into their eyes, I knew that something was terribly wrong. Dad was in intensive care – critical condition. He had suffered seven broken ribs and was in intensive care in Del Rio until he could safely be transported back home. Luckily, by the grace of God, he pulled through. The doctors were amazed that none of the ribs pierced his heart or punctured a lung. The doctors told him that he must have had a guardian angel. My dad said, “Well, I guess so, but I thought it jumped out when the truck flipped!”
On the day of his accident, I’ll never forget the feeling of fear and uncertainty. They were not sure if he would make it or not. My wedding day was planned for October 17, 1998, but suddenly nothing mattered except my dad’s health. I remember praying to God to please let my dad survive. I promised God “it doesn’t matter what happens on my wedding day as long as my dad is there.” Boy, would He test me!
On the morning of October 17, 1998, I awoke to the sound of rain on the roof. I thought to myself, “Oh well, they say it’s good luck if it rains on your wedding day.” I had a hair appointment in Universal City at 10:00 a.m. By the time of my appointment, it was hard to drive because of the driving rain, and I could already see cars that were stuck in low water areas. As I got my hair done, people were discussing water coming into their houses, cars stranded in high water, and the Cibolo Creek raging harder and faster than it ever had before. Despite all of the gloom, the ladies were doing their best to try to make me feel better. They tried to assure me that it would probably clear up and I would still have a beautiful wedding day. The clouds outside held a different story.
When I got back to my parents’ house, the calls started coming in. One of my bridesmaids couldn’t get out of her house because the Cibolo Creek ran through their property, and it was flooded over the driveway. Neither the caterer, nor the band could get to the hall. The wedding cake (made by my fiancé’s aunt) couldn’t get through. Then the call came that made me want to curl up in the corner and hope that this was all a bad dream – Otis’s sister had my wedding dress, and the road had been washed away. I would not have my wedding dress. I would have to walk up the aisle wearing a dress that I teach school in. The rain was falling and so were the tears.
I remember walking onto my parents’ back porch, looking up at the gray sky and I wanted to scream, “WHY ME?!?”, but instead, I suddenly remembered my promise to God. I did promise that NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENED, IT WOULDN’T MATTER. Suddenly, a feeling of calmness came over me and I felt that everything would be OK. Before I went back into the house, I looked up to Him and said, “You better be glad that I have a good sense of humor. I know that I told you that it doesn’t matter what happened, but did you have to take it this far?!?”
I went back into the house, re-grouped, and called my future in-laws. They were still in New Braunfels, and I wanted to make sure that everyone there was OK. I cried with them, and we prayed that no one would drown trying to get to our wedding. As I finished talking to my future father-in-law, I told him, “Come hell or high water, I am marrying your son today!” I told the New Braunfels bunch to head out for the church in St. Hedwig. We would get married whenever we all got there.
My family and I took off for the church. We were re-routed through Randolph Air Force Base. As we got to the front gate, traffic was at a standstill. There was a train going by and because of the water almost going over the railroad tracks in Schertz, the train was at a crawl. We were scheduled to get married at 3:00 p.m.; it was already going on 4:00 p.m. I told my brother, who was riding with me, that we would be sitting here at least another hour. My brother jumped out into the hard rain and went and talked to the guards. I saw them shaking their heads “no”, but then all of the sudden, he came running back to the truck excited. The guards agreed to let us go the wrong way so that we could get onto Farm-to-Market Highway 78. As we got onto Loop 1604, my parents passed us. They pulled into the gas station. I pulled alongside them and asked what they were doing! My mom said that she had planned on getting gas that morning once it stopped raining – HA! As my dad pumped gas, a huge lightning bolt struck the gas pumps and blew them out. Luckily, my dad managed to get $3 worth of gas. We were off again!
When we arrived at the church, I was amazed to see the bridesmaid who had been flooded earlier. She and her mother had bagged up their clothes and waded through the floodwaters just to be there for me! I was even more amazed when my aunt walked in – with a wedding dress! She had heard about my “wedding dress plight” and went home to get my cousin’s wedding dress. It fit perfectly!
Otis and his family arrived at about 5:20 p.m. As they were driving from New Braunfels to St. Hedwig, it seemed that God held the roads open long enough for them to get through. Both Loop 1604 and IH-10 were closed right after they had passed through.
There were approximately 80 people who had somehow made it to the church. Some had been there since about 2:00 p.m. The church’s electricity had gone out so as we began our wedding at 5:30 p.m., the guests sang us up the aisle to “Amazing Grace”. It was an extremely emotional ceremony, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the candle-lit church. As we said our vows, the sun broke through for the first time that day. God shined His beautiful light through the stained glass windows down onto us.
At the end of the ceremony, we were unsure of what would happen next. We had received a phone call from our reception hall – it had been turned into a homeless shelter. Basically, we were a wedding party – minus the “party”! The priest said that we could use the fellowship hall behind the church; however, we still had no food and no drinks for our guests. My father and father-in-law went and found drinks from the local dancehall. Then they went to Texas Pride BBQ who delivered plates of food for us! Some of our bridal party went to the local gas station and bought a bride’s cake (a cinnamon roll) and a groom’s cake (Sno-balls). My husband and I then toasted and cut our cakes to the delight of our guests. Some of the guests set up a head table and we sat down to our dinner (out of Styrofoam containers!). Following the meal, one of the guests brought out a CD player. We had our first dance to the first song we had planned on, “I Cross My Heart”. We then had a mini-dance and even a grand march! When we left the hall, instead of throwing birdseed (it was at our hall/homeless shelter), the guests threw bread (leftover from the meal) at us.
All in all, by the end of the night, everyone who was there had a great time. We were all thankful that everyone was safe. It was amazing how close we all became that night. We had spent over a year planning our “dream wedding” down to the last detail. Because of the flood, all of that was tossed aside, but we still managed to pull together and have a great wedding.
October 17, 1998, was a day that no one wants to re-live, but it was a day of learning for us. We learned what really matters in life is not what possessions you have; it is family and friends that matter. You can either sit around crying about your misfortunes or you can take what is given to you and make the most of it. Otis and I thank God for giving us each other and allowing us to get married. We also thank Him for letting my dad stick around to be there with us!
-by Christine Hoffmann
(The following is a poem that I wrote about our wedding day; it is included in a wonderful scrapbook that my “wading” bridesmaid put together for us.)
October 17, the day we would exchange wedding rings,
Wait – Now it’s flooding, we have to change everything!
We planned to be toasting with champagne for over a year,
But with flooding, can someone just give me a beer?!?
Friday, we had spent decorating the hall,
Decorating was fun, we had such a ball!
It looked nice and pretty – never from our memory would it fade,
Wait – Now for all of the homeless, it’s a shelter of aid!
The church had no lights, the bride had no dress,
Surely, everyone involved was feeling much stress.
We made do with candles & a dress that was brought
We had overcome many obstacles, the odds were fought
The beautiful wedding cake could not make it through,
But a cinnamon roll and Sno-Balls helped us get through.
We had a head table, some beer, and good food
We took what we had and did the best that we could.
With a radio and CD’s, we danced to George Strait,
Everyone had fun, we thought that it was great.
We had a grand march with 100% participation,
We wished that everyone could have been at the celebration!
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