Erin Napier Reveals How Flood at Home Unearthed Sweet Marriage Memento
Erin Napier is opening about the heartfelt “sacrifice” her spouse, Ben Napier, made for her in the earliest days of their relationship—after the couple unearthed a sweet memory from their romance while dealing with the fallout of a flood at their Mississippi home.
Napier, 40, took a walk down memory lane on her Instagram account, where she revealed a photo of the receipt that her husband received when buying her engagement ring, which she said he could “barely afford” at the time.
The “Home Town” star explained that she and Ben found the paperwork—which details the payment plan he set up to pay for the ring—after he began laying out cherished mementos to dry after they were caught in the flood.
“It rained for two months, and so our basement flooded,” she began. “Ben keeps a shoebox of things that were special to him as a boy down there. Inside it are photos from high school, school and sports awards, colorful notes from girls who were cheering for him at the game, and this.”
The post featured an image of the “retail installment contract” Ben signed for the ring, with the “date of contract” listed as Sept. 15, 2007.
It also featured a description of the ring, the amount of payments her husband would have to make, and the total price, which came in at $3,210.
Further in the caption, Erin revealed that finding the contact tugged at her heartstrings, noting that she knew Ben, who was a student at the University of Mississippi at the time, could “barely afford” the ring.
“[Ben] had it all spread out on the stairs drying, and I felt a lump in my throat seeing the dollar amount for what he sacrificed and worked so hard to give me when he could barely afford gas for his truck senior year at Ole Miss,” she wrote.
“I didn’t expect it at all and would’ve married him with a dandelion tied around my finger.”
The last snap in the post then depicted Erin’s sparkling rock, which she still wears to this day.
The HGTV stars got engaged in 2007 and tied the know the following year. They now share two children: Helen, 8, and Mae, 5.
The emotional tale comes just weeks after Erin made another very emotional admission—opening up about the devastation she and her husband experienced at watching one of their newly-renovated properties, a local hotel, going up in flames.
During the finale episode of their latest series, “Home Town: Inn This Together,” Erin and Ben were left aghast as a fire ripped through the inn that they had spent two years painstakingly restoring in their hometown of Laurel, MS.
The installment of the hit HGTV show began with another nightmare for the couple—who revealed that a devastating storm had brought heavy rain to the area, which damaged several rooms in the inn.
After the Napiers carried out repairs to the property, it seemed that the clouds were finally clearing for them as they proudly showed off the finished hotel to Laurel locals, as well as the town’s mayor.
However, things took a sharp turn for the worse after those celebrations came to an end, with text appearing on the screen to reveal that “shortly after filming wrapped, disaster struck.”
Newly taped footage then showed smoke pouring out of the building as firefighters ran in to extinguish the fire. Then the cameras cut to a devastated Erin, who was choking back sobs as she stared up at the burning building.
“Thankfully, there were no injuries during the fire,” a news report voice-over stated. “It was determined that the fire started at the top of the building. Water damage now lies in the lower floors.”
As more scenes of the fire were shown, Ben opened up to the cameras about the couple’s shock and heartbreak over the fire.
“To come as far as we have, and then to have something like this … it is devastating,” he explained.
Erin added, “It’s heartbreaking. For Laurel, this hotel—it means a lot.”
The mother of two went on to voice her determination to salvage the project, explaining how much it means, not just to her family, but to their entire hometown.
Laurel would have benefited hugely from such a high-profile venue, she said. “For a small town, it’s extremely important. And it makes you think, we’ve got to figure it out. We’ve just got to figure it out. You’ve got to keep going.”
Earlier in the episode, Ben had made clear just how much the property meant to their hometown, where they live with their two daughters, describing the hotel as helping to “save” an entire corner of the downtown area.
“It’s not just a hotel; it’s a building that’s saved. It is a corner of downtown that is saved,” he said.
“It’s an upstart in the economy that wasn’t there. It’s a morale booster,” his wife chimed in.
“When the people who live here see that dilapidated building finally restored after 40 years of being vacant, it says something, and it says there’s no going back from here.”
The episode ended with a silver lining. By the time the show was ready to air, significant progress had already been made on the hotel’s rebuild, starting with the installation of a new roof.
“With deep commitment and community support, the ‘Framily’ continues to restore the Heirloom building,” a message at the end of the episode revealed.
The season finale was aired almost one year to the day after the fire broke out—a moment that the Napiers marked in an emotional post shared on social media in the wake of the episode’s premiere.
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