One of the most talked about events of 2017 in Tucker was the arrival of Flip or Flop Atlanta. Social media exploded on September 21 when HGTV’s hit home improvement show aired an episode that had been filmed on Idlewood Road.
Christine Merridith was one of the many who caught that episode, although she did so from a unique perspective: Merridith was watching from inside the Flip or Flop house.
“It just blew me away that they took that and turned it into such a beautiful home,” the mother of three recalls. “What they did is amazing.”
Merridith, her husband Reggie and their three kids had been living just outside of Tucker and looking to move back. They were house hunting one day when she passed by the recently remodeled home across from Idlewood Elementary School.
“I stopped and Googled it and I called the [realtor] and said, ‘I want this house,’” she recalls. “Just seeing the pictures, I knew I wanted this house and I told him, ‘whatever we have to do, let’s make this happen.’”
Anyone who saw the episode knows Merridith went well over the asking price to get the home. Looking back, she says there are absolutely no regrets.
“I was willing to pay top dollar for it,” she explains. “I had looked at other houses in the area and this one…it really was almost like it was a brand-new house because everything had been totally redone. When I talked with my husband about what I wanted in a house, this was it.”
Last March, the family of five was just settling into their new home when tragedy struck: Reggie Merridith, the beloved husband and father, was killed. Christine faced a new, frightening reality as a widow and a single mom. It was at that point the Tucker faith community stepped in.
The Merridiths had been attending Rehoboth Baptist Church for more than a decade. Pastor Troy Bush and the Rehoboth family saw some of their own in crisis and stepped up.
“We loved them, we walked with them and we helped them meet their needs,” Bush says. “As followers of Jesus Christ, we understand that He calls us to be devoted to one another and to live generously.”
“We just love our church,” Christine says. “I couldn’t have made it without them. They just embraced us and really carried us through that.”
The family keeps Reggie’s memory alive in many ways, most visibly by displaying his photograph around their new home. Christine says the way this house is designed actually has helped her to become closer to her kids following their loss.
“[It’s] the open floor plan,” she explains. “You can be (cooking dinner) in the kitchen and still be with the family in the family room watching TV.”
As they’ve grown closer as a family, Christine says they’ve embraced Tucker and Tucker has embraced them right back.
“I love being in Tucker and this is where I plan to stay.”
The Merridiths went through some of life’s biggest ups and downs in 2017. With their church family and their community behind them – and with a home that they absolutely love – they’re hoping that 2018 is a different journey.
