Thursday night (the 10th of March) I was enjoying a fun night chatting and board gaming it with some of my fellow moms in arms. I had already dealt with the anxiety of a small earthquake rocking Japan the country my better half was visiting on business.
I try to take earthquakes in stride, I mean I live in earthquake country now. If you are wondering no, I don't think they are better than a hurricane. Been thru a few of those and they always included drinking and relaxing after the last swath of weather. But earthquakes no warning, nowhere to get shelter, because your shelter is shaking, not my cup-o-tea.
So when our friend and roommate who works for the same company as my better half came downstairs to tell us that Japan had just gotten hit with a 8.6 maybe a 9 earthquake. I got worried real quick. I don't do anything over a 4.0 thank you very much, check please, send him home.
A little while later (don't know the exact time, but it was long enough to have another beer, which I shouldn't have, but I was at home) I got the Skype call from him. He's ok, and yes he got under the desk, and he's "ok with that". He's from earthquake country and tends to take it better than this flatlander. They were at a co-workers flat and it was on the third floor. Out the window he saw the canal fill with water past it's high water mark in about twenty minutes. All things meat to allay my fears.
His voice and face were all that could do that, and if all I had was Skype then I would take it. Later he would tell me that some of our conversations were cut short because an earthquake was going on and he didn't want me to see it get worse. Then there was the word radioactive in the news.
He was on a bullet train heading out of the city because other countries were recommending their citizens leave Tokyo for fear of a fallout cloud. Again he was "safe" and my family and friends were keeping me busy and getting updates. The updates were the worst because yes he was safe but he wasn't really (safe meant home to me) and there were so many unknowns and the time difference, was he asleep? traveling again? was something happening?
Finally while out of town at a friend of a friend's apartment on Sunday we get his company's travel agency on the phone with me here in the USA while he is on Skype in-front of me on the computer. After some confusion (on my part) again on the time difference we get him booked and traveling back to his hotel, ready to get to the airport.
On his end there was quite a journey, thousands of people packed into a subway, was there going to be a bus for the ride to the airport? Would there be tickets? Traffic? Time? All these unknowns, but he made the best of it and made it home to us. There were so many more stories out of Japan that were far worse, my heart aches.
He slept for three hours (which hardly makes up for the three days of missed sleep) in the easy chair, we didn't leave the room because we just wanted to be near him, he didn't seem to mind.
So this brings me to my soap box, Please help Japan any way you can. Donate to relief efforts, buy goods supporting relief efforts, pray, send healing waves of energy, light a candle. What ever you can. They need it now.
Thank you,
Head Bather
