Just living

Last night was the first night I’d watched the news since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on Friday. I’m not a regular news watcher, most of it’s too depressing and I tend to skew more toward John Stewart for my political news. I do read the L.A. Times every day, I read Newsweek and Time, and I’m hyper plugged into the digital world so I feel I get enough. But last night Ang and I watched the evening news after we ate our dinner and the pictures were heartbreaking. Then they started talking about the potential here in California for radiation poisoning (there isn’t a potential, just so we’re all on the same page) and for an earthquake of our own (that, they’re not so sure about – you can predict them but they do come in clusters). After that I read the Newsweek that had come in the mail, the one, of course, about Japan. And I started to think.

That thinking drove me to the hardware store on my way home from work today. Apparently I was not alone in my thinking since I got the last 2 small emergency kits left. We already have one here at the house, the one my mom and I bought Ang last year, but I figured we couldn’t be over prepared. Plus, Angela had heard a presentation on earthquake preparedness at a meeting a few weeks ago and they suggested you keep kits in your car. So, these are for the cars.

The odd thing about all of this, at least as I sit here and think about it? I’m not scared. I’m not panicked or worried really. There’s not much I can do. I bought the emergency kits. We have 2 battery powered lanterns and we have batteries for them. We have food in the cupboards that’s canned. Here’s the real rub of it though – we can’t ever really be prepared for something like the devastation that has been rained down upon Japan. We just can’t. So instead, I prepare, I pray, and I go on with my life.

How can I live in California? I’m often asked by people who don’t live here. What about the wildfires and the earthquakes? Well, in Michigan we had tornadoes. We had ice storms that caused deaths. We had heat waves that caused deaths. You’re not immune wherever you might be. And so we go on. Preparing, yes, praying, yes, but most off all? Just living. Because really, that’s all we can do.