So this morning started off like any other morning. Alarm goes off for approximately 45 minutes while I keep hitting snooze. I finally get out of bed when I realize I'm going to be late (again) for work. Throw myself in the shower to wake up - then try (effortlessly) to wake up D - and pop on the Today Show so I can hear Ann Curry and Matt Lauer blabber while I brush my teeth.
It is then that I notice the bright red line flashing across the bottom of the screen - BREAKING NEWS: Tsunami Warning for West Coast and Hawaii. Huh? I'm still half asleep. Tsunami? Like as in those horrible waves that wrecked havoc in Indonesia in 2004? Kind of a big deal. But why? So, even though I am late, I can't turn away from the TV. Evidently there was a massive 8.9 earthquake off the coast of Japan a few hours earlier.
Interesting. I had sushi for lunch yesterday and I admire and respect Japanese culture. However, the first thought that goes through my head - mind you - AFTER I have heard it was something like the 6th strongest earthquake ever recorded and that our own coastline is being threatened by tsunamis - is "HOW IS THIS GOING TO AFFECT ME? GOD, I HOPE THE PRICE OF SUSHI DOESN'T GO UP BECAUSE OF THIS!" No lie. I am really an awful person.
I should also point out - I have a blog follower who is from Japan - I discovered this little fact not so long ago. I do hope they are safe and out of harms way, and the people of Japan (and Hawaii and the West Coast of the US) are all in my thoughts during this rough time. Being from South Florida - I'm no stranger to natural disasters and how truly devestating they can be. I've been through my share of hurricanes and vividly remember August 24, 1992 like it was yesterday.
That was the day Hurricane Andrew made landfall in Miami and I had just turned 12 years old and was getting ready to start 7th grade. I have a good friend whose family lost their entire house (and their plane - yeah, they had a plane! Her dad was a pilot). Personally, we didn't have much damage - my parents' house was built in the late 1960s and was made better than houses of newer construction. We had accordian hurricane shutters and as a result, only suffered minor damage - some roof tiles missing, uprooted trees, etc. We had an avocado tree in the back yard - an ENORMOUS avocado tree - that fell and was only inches away from having fallen on my bedroom - so we were very lucky. We were without power for over a week - which in the blazing heat of August - was no picnic. My dad volunteered to help get supplies down to the families in south Miami who were completely devestated from the storm, and my mom - who worked for a pediatrician - donated a lot of medical supplies, medication, and a bunch of cases of Pedialyte. For some reason, I remember all the Pedialyte.
Hurricane Andrew could have been much much worse than it was - if it had hit just slightly north of where it made landfall, it would have struck a much more populated area. As far as hurricanes go - it was on the smaller size - the strongest winds did not stretch out as far as a lot of other storms, and luckily it moved quickly and didn't linger around like some storms do. As unfortunate as it was, it's an experience I am glad I lived through. Not that I'd like to repeat it or that I would wish it upon anybody - but it really puts things into perspective. And while I am shamed to report that after hearing of the earthquake in Japan my first thought was about sushi - please know - I do understand the magnitute of what happened and my thoughts and prayers are with those that were affeted.
Sidenote: I have always struggled with the use of Affect and Effect and when to use them correctly - so if I have used the wrong version of the word in this post, I apologize.
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