Did I ever tell you about the time that Ty Pennington and the Extreme Home Makeover team came to town. Not only to town, but to my street. They closed off all the entries to the neighborhood and you had to have a special pass just to get home. They set up a whole campground in our small little playground park. An empty grocery store parking lot around the corner served as the construction staging area. There were trucks and people everywhere. Generators and lights ran all night. It was all very exciting.
We were there when they tore down the house. Since this is a military town and the deserving family were military, they used a tank to break down the walls.
I was fortunate enough to get to tour the new home before the family moved back in. It was gorgeous and had all the equipment the family would need to make their daily life a little easier.
You see the father was a drill sergeant who volunteered to train Iraqi soldiers. One day while eating in the mess tent, he was struck by incoming mortar fire and was paralyzed from the waist down. After going through the long recovery back here in the states, he was driving a handicapped van with his family when a wheel malfunctioned. The van rolled, throwing him through the windshield. His daughter had to have an organ removed, his young son was paralyzed.
Two people in wheelchairs is a lot for a small house, so this new home with its wide hallways and high tech bathroom would really help them out. The beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright inspired home is completely handicapped accessible. There is even a woodworking shop for the dad's hobby and exercise equipment for continued therapy. All the children got their own customized bedroom with games and TV's. The kids received college scholarships too.
But none of that matters I'm sure to the three children now. What they need most in life was taken from them. That would be their mother's love and support. She took her own life last week.
