YANCEY COUNTY, N.C. (QUEEN CITY HOMETOWN) — “I can’t make myself come back here.”
There are objects both familiar and foreign that surround Sherry Housley’s home just outside of Burnsville, North Carolina.
“There was a car from my neighbors in the back of the building,” said Sherry. “We had mailboxes that washed down from the Burnsville area.”
All over her yard, there is so much stuff. But Sherry sees it differently.
“I saw what wasn’t here,” said Sherry.
The trees, the flowers- the peace.
That’s all buried.
“It’s absolutely gut-wrenching, just sadness,” said Sherry. “Sadness and loss and grief, so much grief.”
It may look like it just happened, but it’s been six months since Hurricane Helene. She’s been living in an old camper on her property since.
“You can’t think, you can’t cope,” said Sherry.
There’s a hole in the back of her house, which was right where her art studio was. It was where she made sculptures and jewelry. At the moment, it’s far from beautiful. But, instead of turning away, Sherry is taking one more look.
“Every time I look, I see something else I’d forgotten about,” said Sherry.
This time, it’s not what’s missing that catches her eye but what’s left behind.
“You have to sift through every little bit of dirt because you don’t know what’s hidden in there,” said Sherry. “It’s a treasure hunt.”
It’s the cardinals that remind her of her son.
“When I’m here, they just sing!”
The grass is peeking through the ground.
“It’s just like, yes! Yes! Something is growing now. It’s not just mud here, and in that tiny little space, there’s something green and growing.”
The signs are everywhere.
“Wow,” sighed Sherry. “That was mind-blowing. I didn’t see that coming at all.”
Soon, her place will be cleaned up, and she will get a brand new tiny home thanks to ‘Rebuilding Hollers,’ a local nonprofit.
“There are no words, there are no words,” said Sherry.
Some signs are 30 feet high; others you may have to search for. But when you think there’s nothing to see- look again.
To help Sherry out, support her GoFundMe.
