Mother Nature

Videos and newstories about the earthquake and tsunami that crippled northern Japan take my breath away. Whole towns wiped away in a matter of minutes. Families searching frantically for loved ones assumed lost in the disaster. Nuclear meltdown fears. It's almost too devastating to be real.
And too close.
Larry was in Korea last week. He'd text everyday just to let me know where he was or what he was doing. Friday afternoon, I received a text, "Have you heard about the quake? We felt it here". Katie was sick last week, so the television was on cartoons or a movie, but as soon as I flipped it to CNN, I was inundated with horrific images. I responded, "OMG, r u alright?" Nothing. I sent another one, "where r u?" Nothing. I waited until the girls were asleep and sent,"text me when u can". I watched the news all night and was semi appeased when there were no reports of any Korean disasters. I released a huge sigh of relief when I received a text Saturday morning, "on way to airport, may be delays".
The girls and I rode with Mr. Liu to the airport as we'd planned on doing some Shanghai shopping. When we arrived, Mr. Liu said the flight was on time, and we only had to wait a few minutes before he came into view.
I told him how worried I was since he didn't respond. Unfortunately, his phone battery died. He went on to tell me about the tremor he felt. He was in Buson, which is on the southeastern coast, and had just boarded the high speed train to Incheon. He said it felt like really bad airplane turbulance and the train slowed to almost a stop until the tremor subsided. At the time, no one knew what had happened. It wasn't until he'd reached Incheon that they were told about the quake. He added the Seoul airport was packed with people trying to get to Japan.
We all hugged Daddy and I told him to make sure his phone was charged for his next trip.