This was not a test.

I hovered between sleep and waking listening to the familiar sound of the emergency siren.  "They must be doing the weekly test", I thought.  Then as my mind neared the surface of wakefulness I thought, "They tested it just yesterday".  Finally, as the monotone voice announced a not so familiar message, I snapped alert at 12:07 am.  As the siren wailed again, I waited to hear just what the voice had said.

image via flickr

"Tsunami advisory" was all I needed to hear.  I woke Ben and turned on the radio.  I couldn't find any stations until finally we picked up NPR announcing the horrible earthquake in Japan.  I sat listening, adrenaline coursing through my veins.  I tried to find more local information online and read that we were under tsunami advisory and other areas were under warning.  As my middle-of-the-night mind tried to make sense of the national weather service, Ben continued to hover between wakefulness and sleep (his mind is always clear and sharp, he knew we would know if we needed to leave).  "What do we do?" I ask.  As Ben peacefully and knowingly settled back in to try to sleep, I was up thinking and worrying.

I sat texting with a friend who was watching the news, watching cars go down the street - headed out of town, watching my neighbors 2 houses down pack up and leave... Until I finally just called the police to help me understand the protocol.  Once I was reconciled with the fact that we should stay put until further notice, my mind continued to race.  

My heart went and still goes out to all the people in Japan.  And I thought about how connected the whole world was at that moment. I thought about how despite how far away or foreign some places and people can seem, that we are all just people.  That we are all brothers and sisters and ultimately we want eachother to know when some are in trouble and others could be in emminent danger.

 How in the end, we all care about eachother. 

I wish everyone could remember that when there aren't any earthquakes or tsunamis.  I'm sure going to try a lot harder to remember. 

I was reminded again this morning when I learned my brother was in Honolulu, had been evacuated to a hill-top, and watched as the waters receded.  How my love for him came right to the surface.  It turns out he is fine and so are we and I am so glad.  And I know that we are all connected and I am so glad that we have the gift and opportunity to care about and help eachother throughout the whole world.  And right now, I love everyone!