Listeners (Cassandra, Raquel, others) / Unknown

He grabbed my dog, he grabbed my daughter, and he hustled them into his house.

Then I picked myself up, and then I glanced down the street, and I could see through my near-blindness the Christmas lights of red and blue lights coming towards me.

Those were fire trucks.

Three hours later,

40 of my neighbors were standing with my whole family and my dog.

in the street outside my house, watching my house burn to the ground.

And one of the neighbors got out his best scotch and they passed it around.

And somebody else got me some herbal tea.

Somebody else gave me a bathrobe.

So anyway, as we watched the fire, we saw the explosions.

Somebody invited me into the house, our neighbors.

We've all recovered.

We all are okay.

And we're better for it.

Thank you.

In 2014, I had just finished graduate school and I was starting a new job.

The day before my 27th birthday, my sister called to tell me that my dad had been in a car accident.

Sadly, he passed away a few days later.

Fast forward to 2019, I began helping with a grief support group at my church, and I had to tell the story of my dad's passing

with each new group, I started to notice things in the story that changed my perspective on it.