It’s December and, not surprisingly, I find myself thinking about Christmas. Kinda hard to avoid, really, what with all the wall-to-wall Christmas sale ads on the telly. This year just feels different, though. Though there are things I wouldn’t mind having (a new laptop, 18 holes at Pebble Beach, a Hummer H3), there is nothing that I feel I NEED. After giving it some thought, I think I’ve finally figured out why.
After facing the very real possibility of losing our home and everything we own to Hurricane Rita, I feel as if I’ve already received my gift. We still have our home. I can still remember the long September Friday night in the La Quinta in Williamsburg, VA. We watched CNN all night long for news on the storm, dozing intermediately while we tried to fight off the terror we both felt. At that point, we didn’t know if we would even have a home to return to. As Saturday morning dawned, we called our neighbor (who, for reasons I still don’t understand, remained in their home despite the mandatory evacuation) to get an update. It was a tremendous relief to learn that not only was our home still intact, it had suffered no damage at all.
So, when I think about what I want for Christmas, it’s difficult to feel as if I haven’t already received my gift. But for a fortuitous turn by Hurricane Rita, the Houston-Galveston area would have suffered the fate that was forced upon Beaumont and Lake Charles. Our little home would have been reduced to so many tooth picks, and I don’t know what we would have done. Thankfully, we were spared that fate, though many not so very far away from us were not. Fate is a fickle mistress, no?
Anything that is under the tree with my name on it on Christmas morning will be a bonus, because I got my present at the end of September. That we have a home that we can put up a tree in is gift enough for me.
‘Course, if any of y’all feel the need to buy me a new laptop, 18 holes at Pebble Beach, or an H3, don’t be thinking I’ll turn it down…. ;0)
