May 30th, 2024 will be forever seared into my psyche. Not because it’s my wedding anniversary (my husband, Steve, and I got married in July) – nor is it the birthday of any of my favorite humans or animals. It has nothing to do with any major life events, either.
By most accounts, it was a fairly unremarkable day. Until it wasn’t.
That evening, it hailed. Hard. The sky opened up and hurled down what I now lovingly refer to as sky diamonds – frozen missiles I’ve come to understand as unexpected gifts. What began as just another spring storm quickly escalated —reminding Denverites of nature’s sudden, erratic shifts. But this storm wasn’t just dramatic and messy. It marked a turning point—one that jolted me out of a long, stagnant darkness.
Although quite common in Colorado, hail is rarely easy to manage. Hailstorms are often fast and furious – ravaging roofs, stripping trees of their leaves and branches, and rendering cars pockmarked and battered – in an insanely short amount of time. The monetary damage aside, hail’s wrath can also be extremely dangerous to life and limb. For instance, on June 22nd of 2023, torrential ice pummeled Red Rocks Amphitheater during a Louis Tomlison concert, hospitalizing at least seven people and injuring approximately 100 others. In cases like these, hail can leave a plethora of broken bones, cuts, bruises, and welts in its wake. Hailstorms are forces to be reckoned with—powerful, unpredictable, and rarely associated with miracles.
On May 30th at 10pm, Steve and I heard a dreaded but familiar – ting ting ting – of hail hitting the tin roof on the side of our house. It started small, but within seconds, it became huge – shaking our siding -until we wondered if our house would collapse in on us. Irritated and scared, I began pleading with the higher power to please. Make. It. Stop. A year earlier, huge egg-sized hail had destroyed our roof and did significant damage to both our cars. After fighting with our insurance companies for months on end – trying to force them to authorize our repairs – we were not ready to repeat the process. Worse still, I was already deep in a difficult chapter of my life – and this felt like the final straw, the one that might break everything.
Still, this isn’t a story about destruction. It’s about the quiet, redemptive power that storms can bring…
Before the storm, I had already weathered two years of professional adversity, driven by forces beyond my control. Despite my many accomplishments, passion, and expertise, I had been unable to find a good job and had been cobbling together an income doing mind-numbing temp job after temp job – along with pet sitting, selling wine, and performing all manner of odd tasks that never amounted to a real salary.
Facing rejection after rejection on the job market, I started to doubt my sanity and my ability to ever bounce back. I was physically, spiritually, emotionally, and existentially exhausted, and this hail seemed like the final blow. Obviously, we survived the night, but I did not sleep at all, worried about what was to come. I couldn’t have known it at the time, but that night was the beginning of something entirely unexpected.
If I had known then what I know now, I would have welcomed all of it.
We have all been to the abyss before – a place so dark we are sure we will be swallowed whole and worry that we may never see the light again.
A few days later, Steve called Mo Kayeni at Elevated Auto Hail Repair to schedule an estimate for our cars. Once at the shop, he asked Mo how business was going and Mo replied that it was booming – explaining that he needed a Director of Operations. This was an offhand comment, said with nothing more than friendly chit-chat in mind. But it sparked Steve’s interest. A few days later, Steve asked Mo if he might want to chat with me about the position and we decided to meet for lunch.
Before becoming the Director of Operations, I had zero knowledge of paintless dent repair (PDR) or the auto industry whatsoever. My background is in education and animal welfare, so I was pretty surprised that Mo wanted to talk. However, during our meal, we quickly realized that we were philosophically aligned, and began discussing ways to build a business around the simple but radical concept of taking care of others and giving back. We didn’t know then that we would create a nonprofit appreciation campaign to support local organizations dedicated to making the world a kinder, more beautiful place. We likewise had no idea that we would become involved with the Partners in Philanthropy Group at the South Metro Denver Chamber. We just knew we wanted to transmute the inconvenience and even the pain of hailstorms into something positive. And just like that – an opportunity that was way, way outside of my normal field and comfort zone – brought me to my professional home. I now work with an incredible team of humans – who share a vision for service and community building – and have never been happier. Hailstorms might be one of the sky’s most violent tantrums, but they also bring diamonds, born of collision and chaos, polished by pressure and light. So if you’re caught in a storm of your own, lift your gaze – sometimes hope arrives in the shimmer of falling sky.
Life is full of gorgeous surprises – many of which come right after its most harrowing storms.
