I say a sentence.
She says a sentence.
We repeat until the story is complete and fall asleep loving one another deeply.
Living at and loving the Beach our stories tend to be nautical in nature.
"Charlie the coral wanted to be a Christmas Tree," the story begins.
"He'd seen one once on a boat passing over his head," it unfolds.
There's a back story to Charlie.
My Brother-in-law Michael Thompson and I are snorkeling off Cemetery Beach in Grand Cayman Island and I see a lump of coral on the bottom of the ocean that's shaped like a Christmas Tree.
More impressively small blue, green and purple fish are feeding off of it looking like brightly colored ornaments.
"Did you see that?" I ask Michael when we surface.
"See what?" he replies.
Sometimes in life you just have to believe in what you know you saw in spite of doubt.
Years later, Chelsea and I ... laying in the bleakness of dark times ... bring Charlie to life ... one sentence at a time.
It's a story about finding yourself ... believing in who you want to be ... not listening to the naysayers ... discovering who your friends are ... and making the leap of faith.
All that takes place in four pages.
That Christmas I had little money ... so I type out the stories Chelsea and I had made up. She drew some illustrations and I got some help on some others and made a book with a limited run of copies.
Chelsea loved it and it's a reminder of a little girl's love through really tough times.
So Charlie the Coral has a very special place in my heart.
And whenever I need the Spirit of Christmas I have a detailed description of the gloriousness of the underwater Tree Charlie is today.
