Virtual Reality

After we had the communal Christmas dinner at our wonderful friends Tracey and Steve's home, they drove us back to Mo and Ronnie's where we set up camp for a few days. It was the first time all Christmas day that the four of us were together, and alone (except for those first surreal and scary minutes before our neighbors were alerted to the fire). All was calm. We were exhausted, still somewhat in shock, and just beginning to comprehend it all. We all sat in Mo and Ron's living room together, just quietly talking. I'm not sure who started it, but we began telling one another what had been under the Christmas tree for each of us, and what had been in our stockings. It sounds so sad, but it really wasn't. We were all so gracious to one another, saying things like "I knew it would have looked so nice on you" and "Oh *thank* you, I would have loved that!". It was very sincere, and from the heart. The underlying message could not have been more clear if it had been spray painted across the living room wall. We were all there, together. No one was in a hospital, or worse. Despite the awful situation we are in, despite the sadness and the destruction, we have one another.

We'll always refer to this as our virtual Christmas.