I learned a lot on this trip to Staten Island, like how to cover the seams in drywall and how to cook pasta in an electric tea kettle. I also learned how beautiful Staten Island is. Like, so beautiful you guys. The house we stayed in was a short walk from the beach, through a parking lot of what looked like an abandoned warehouse. Looking up at the sky after dark and seeing the most stars I’ve ever seen in New York (five! a total of FIVE stars! not one of them was an airplane!) was a real is-this-really-the-largest-city-in-America moment for me. For a city of eight million people, New York has a way of feeling just like a small town sometimes. The people we met on our trip from Rebuilding Together treated us like their neighbors. Michelle, the woman whose house we worked on, was so grateful and kind. The world is a pretty messed up place these days, but helping Michelle on her house reminded me that there is still good.
This is part 3 of our series of reflections from our Fall Break 2015 trip. Check out the rest: