The Summer That Wasn't Supposed to End Like This
For the girls, the families, and everyone frozen in the aftermath.
Summer camp is supposed to be the safe place.
The happy place.
The place you cry leaving, not the place you cry coming home from.
And when something like this happens…something so unthinkable, so heartbreaking…you almost feel paralyzed. Like nothing you could say or do would ever be enough. Like any word feels too small, too late, too hollow. You feel helpless. Shaken. Like how do you move forward while someone else’s world has stopped?
That’s how I’ve felt since hearing about the devastating Texas floods, and specifically, the tragedy at Camp Mystic.
I can’t stop thinking about the girls who lost their lives.
About the parents who dropped off their daughters thinking they’d spend a few weeks laughing in cabins, singing under the stars, and running wild and free with new friends. About the first-year campers who were just starting what should have been the first chapter of lifelong summer memories. And instead…this. Heartbreak. Trauma. Grief that doesn't have a name big enough to hold it.
I used to live in Houston. I know people who know these families. And in the past several days, I’ve seen the ripple effect of this loss in ways that feel impossible to describe. When something like this hits close to home…or to the homes we once had…it freezes you. You feel like you’re standing still while someone else’s life has shattered. Like going on with your day feels wrong. Like even breathing feels unfair.
There are no “right words” in moments like this.
Just love. And softness. And space to hold the heartbreak.
It’s a brutal, heartbreaking reminder that life is short. Life is precious.
So, love hard. Live even harder. Say the thing. Take the trip. Be exactly where your feet are. The present moment is all we really have, and it matters more than we think.
To the families, and to anyone whose life has been touched by this tragedy, I’m so incredibly sorry. My heart is with you. This should’ve never happened.
We hold your daughters’, friends, family’s names with love, with tenderness, and with the weight of a world that will never forget them.
And if you, like me, are looking for a way to help, my friend Carrie has posted about places to donate, here.
Sending you all so much love. xx Julie