She sits at her kitchen table in the morning with a hot cup of coffee between her hands and she bows her head. She prays about the day before her and for safety for those around her. Her heart is overcome with anxiety as she fears for the future of her community and her job.

He comes home from a long day at work and instead of relaxing heads straight for the garage for tools to fix things around the house. He needs to keep busy so that his head isn’t thinking about how close he is to losing his job. At least if he has to try to sell his house, it will be in great shape if the time comes.

The summer looked an awful lot like this for a lot of people. The wait for Sept. 5 was filled with so many emotions. Emotions that the people who brought it on us could care less about. There were the people with family members receiving medical treatments who didn’t know what they would do without their insurance. There were the couples who just purchased their first homes who had this uncertainty hanging over whether they could afford to keep it or not. And if not, would they be able to sell? There were those close to retirement age, but not near ready for retirement and worried about their futures.

Thank God for this community and the leaders we have who stepped forward for us. We have so many to be grateful for. Our city council, commissioners and state representatives really stepped up for all of us. It made me even more proud to be from here.

Our fight isn’t over yet though. There is another mine that is waiting as well. We need to remember to keep informed, keep active in the political arena. We need to remember that elections are coming and we need to be behind the candidates that will support our industries and our community. We also need to remember that when they are in office, this is a hard, sometimes thankless job. They may not have the power to get everything done that they wished to, but we need to support them even after they are elected. We need to find out how we can help them and do it.

I hadn’t felt the sense of community in quite a while like I had this summer when we united to fight this fight. I learned so much about the people I work with, my neighbors, and how much we all love this place we call home. I don’t want us to lose that just because we seemed to have climbed one mountain. Our community needs us to rally for her all the time. We should always be trying to make this place better and showing our children how much it means to us.

Today she sits at the kitchen table with her hot cup of coffee and as she says her prayer, she is thankful. She sees that she isn’t the only one in this position and she’s thankful for all those rising up to help us. Today her heart is full.

Today, he comes home from a long day at work and he gives his family a big hug. He sits with them for dinner and a movie for the first time in months. His kids cuddle in his lap and he is thankful.