Memories Come Home

Last week marked the six month anniversary of Hurricane Helene. Over a hundred people were lost to the storm, and so many structures, livelihoods, and personal possessions that held particular value for folks. My immediate family was very fortunate, though so many people we love were hit hard. One thing of mine washed away, though, that was poignant for me.

A few years before the hurricane, I had a lot of fun designing a little art installation at the White Horse Black Mountain, with a lot of musical instruments suspended with fishing line in a formerly dark space up near the ceiling, house left. In the low light the line would disappear and the instruments seemed to be floating there. We added some lighting to showcase the instruments, and I thought it looked pretty cool. Because it is so colorful and dripping in history, and because I have a flight case now for that guitar, I hung my old Taylor 912-c case up as part of that little display.

When the White Horse did its big remodel last year, they took that stuff down and put it in storage, with a lot of other things. Then Hurricane Helene came, and she washed away the storage unit and everything in it.

A few days ago, on the exact six month anniversary of the hurricane, this image showed up in a Facebook group called “I found your stuff – WNC” People have been sharing images of things they find along the rivers and other places that people may want to have back, in the hope of finding their owners and reuniting them with things that may hold significance for them. Apparently, the hurricane and flooding tore the guitar case in half, and the rest of it is gone, but some folks who were reclaiming construction materials from the detritus left all along the river found the lid, and posted it in “I found your stuff – WNC.” A friend of mine, Allyson Hettrick, spotted a few stickers on the case that made her think of me and tagged me to see if it was mine. It is. This week, I am going to go pick it up. I’m not quite sure what I’ll do with it, but it represents a lot of history for me, and I’m deeply grateful to these folks who are working for some measure of healing by reuniting people with precious lost things.

I didn’t expect that to be me.