When your neighbor calls you at three in the morning, it's probably best to answer. That's what I figured when my phone lit up this morning. McKenzie was calling to let me know that there was an 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile, that Hawaii has issued a tsunami warning and that the evacuation sirens were going to go off at 6am. She was probably worried that I was going to pee my pants when the alarms sounded before daybreak. Sweet girl.
So, I woke up, called my parents (aren't I a good daughter? Gotta make sure mom doesn't pee her pants when she hears that a giant wall of water is headed straight for her favorite daughter!) and then called Leanna. She probably had the same thoughts I did upon getting a phone call at 3:30am. Can I just let it go to voicemail and then call her back if it's important? Is she drunk-dialing me?? What if she's dying and I'm the only one to help her and I didn't answer because I was in the middle of a fantastic dream about Chick-fil-a??
Thankfully, she did pick up and at 5:30am, I arrived at her apartment with my car loaded with all the important stuff--birth certificates, my favorite blanket, wedding photos, five pairs of clean undies, and two bottles of water (as if two bottles of water was going to sustain me if the worst occurred??) I was ready to camp out for a week.
The sirens (which would not have made me pee my pants--they sounded like quietly dying geese. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have known they were evacuation sirens unless otherwise informed!) went off around 6 and we turned on the news to see if we should go someplace else. Kris and Leanna live in Honolulu at the top of a big hill. We figured we were pretty safe and decided to stay put.
The rest of the day, we watched the news, answered phone calls from worried friends and family, made french toast and napped on their couch. 11:19am (the time it was estimated the first wave would hit the Big Island) came and went with hardly any activity and a few hours later, the tsunami warning was lifted.
I'm back home now staring at the piles of books and artwork protectively placed on my dining room table, thankful that there was no catastrophe in Hawaii today. (Though still praying for Chile and their own catastrophe last night)
Although, if we're being honest here, I could have gone for a little action. If I'm going to wake up at 3am and abandon my home, I could go for a short power outage or some pounding waves--you know, a little story to tell the grandchildren. Oh well. I'll settle for a t-shirt that says, "I survived the Great Tsunami of 2010". I'm sure someone will make them.
So, I woke up, called my parents (aren't I a good daughter? Gotta make sure mom doesn't pee her pants when she hears that a giant wall of water is headed straight for her favorite daughter!) and then called Leanna. She probably had the same thoughts I did upon getting a phone call at 3:30am. Can I just let it go to voicemail and then call her back if it's important? Is she drunk-dialing me?? What if she's dying and I'm the only one to help her and I didn't answer because I was in the middle of a fantastic dream about Chick-fil-a??
Thankfully, she did pick up and at 5:30am, I arrived at her apartment with my car loaded with all the important stuff--birth certificates, my favorite blanket, wedding photos, five pairs of clean undies, and two bottles of water (as if two bottles of water was going to sustain me if the worst occurred??) I was ready to camp out for a week.
The sirens (which would not have made me pee my pants--they sounded like quietly dying geese. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have known they were evacuation sirens unless otherwise informed!) went off around 6 and we turned on the news to see if we should go someplace else. Kris and Leanna live in Honolulu at the top of a big hill. We figured we were pretty safe and decided to stay put.
The rest of the day, we watched the news, answered phone calls from worried friends and family, made french toast and napped on their couch. 11:19am (the time it was estimated the first wave would hit the Big Island) came and went with hardly any activity and a few hours later, the tsunami warning was lifted.
I'm back home now staring at the piles of books and artwork protectively placed on my dining room table, thankful that there was no catastrophe in Hawaii today. (Though still praying for Chile and their own catastrophe last night)
Although, if we're being honest here, I could have gone for a little action. If I'm going to wake up at 3am and abandon my home, I could go for a short power outage or some pounding waves--you know, a little story to tell the grandchildren. Oh well. I'll settle for a t-shirt that says, "I survived the Great Tsunami of 2010". I'm sure someone will make them.