Aaron Parsley turned his family’s harrowing experience in the July 4 flooding, and the loss of his 2-year-old nephew, into a powerful essay of survival and grief.🙏
AUSTIN, Texas — Aaron Parsley has built his career telling the stories of others. But on July 4, when devastating floodwaters swept through the Texas Hill Country, his story became one of survival and heartbreaking loss.
Parsley, a senior editor at Texas Monthly, was among seven family members inside their home along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County when floodwaters lifted the house off its pillars. The structure was carried downstream before breaking apart in the rushing water.
“This story kind of had it all,” Parsley said. “It was heartbreaking. It was harrowing. It was heroic. It was hard to believe, and it was heartwarming.”
In the chaos, his 2-year-old nephew, Clay, was swept away. In the days after, Parsley began writing about the experience. Over six days, often late at night, he wrote a 4,500-word essay — both a testimony to survival, and a tribute to his family’s loss.
“I did just want to say what had happened, and this was a way of giving my testimony saying, what I saw, what my family saw, what we heard, what it felt like, and just like what we remember about those hours that we spent sort of struggling to survive,” Parsley said.
His essay details the night the house was pulled apart and the moments after when his family realized Clay was gone.
“’It’s Alyssa,’ my sister screamed. ‘I’m with Rosemary. Clay is gone.’ The memory of those words will never leave me,” Parsley wrote.
The story captured widespread attention online, reaching millions of readers for Texas Monthly. Parsley said the response was unexpected.
“Like the flood, it was unexpected and overwhelming. And I, I felt like I was kind of swept up in a, in a current of emotion, but it was good emotion,” Parsley said. “I felt a lot of gratitude and I felt comforted.”
In the weeks since, Parsley said his family continues to grieve while trying to move forward.
“I’m just glad and grateful that I’ve had the chance to tell this story, especially here at Texas Monthly,” Parsley said.