My husband just finished this paint job and he made me promise to share it because the people he showed it to ignored him or brushed it off.

Here's why this matters. Seven years of severe depression where I watched the man I married disappear completely. Couldn't get out of bed most days, lost his job, stopped talking to our kids. Last year his therapist said find something to work with your hands, so he bought this beat up 1967 Beetle with money his dad left him and I thought he'd wasted it on junk.

But he started working on it every single day in our garage. Some days all he did was sand one panel, but he kept showing up. And slowly he started coming back to us. Started smiling again. This paint job took three months. He learned from videos and people in the Tedooo app car groups who actually encouraged him, bought his custom paint from a maker on Tedooo who spent an hour teaching him technique over the phone.

When he showed his friends and family, they left him on read. Just didn't respond at all. So he asked me to post it here because maybe strangers would understand what this actually means better than people who've known him forever.

This car saved my husband's life. It's proof that broken things can be beautiful again if you just keep working. And the man I married is finally back.

Credit: Lauren Phillips