I'm sure most everyone has seen the news of the terrible earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. The saddest part of it (to me) are the two babies who have died. One was only 5 months old, which is heartbreaking. My thoughts are with all those who lost family or friends.
One of my very best friends, we shall call her Miss C., was recently on a work trip through Asia/Pacific. On Monday night last week we spoke on the phone as she was due to fly to Sydney the next day and we were trying to organise our catch up for either Tues or Wed night. Unfortunately, her boss is a bit of an ass so she still didn't know exactly which day would work for her and was going to have to email me on Tuesday morning sometime to let me know. Fast forward to Tuesday, early afternoon: I haven't heard from Miss C but am not worried as I know how hectic her trips can be. Plus, given that I can count the number of good friends I have in Sydney on one hand, my schedule is... shall we say 'flexible'?! I don't want to say pathetic (it's not that bad) but definitely a lot of room to maneuvre for me! So as I said, I really wasn't worried. Until I turned on the tv and saw the news of the earthquake. You see, Miss C was in Christchurch and I was probably one of only a few people who knew it given the many changes their schedule had had. I immediately called, texted and emailed her and then waited. And I waited. After an hour or so, I tried again, telling myself that maybe she had already flown to Sydney that morning and was in meetings. But after a couple of hours with no response, I knew she was still in Christchurch and that even though it was 7 hours since the quake had happened I still hadn't heard from her.
At this point of the story, I should note that since having the baby I do tend to cry a bit more than previously. For instance, the other week I was watching Magnum PI. I find there is something decadent about watching crappy 80's tv shows. Like you have so much time that you can waste it on these shows. Anyways, I'm not sure if y'all know this (Spoiler Alert!) but Magnum DIED at the end of the series!! I know! Crazy! What a crap way to end a great tv series - killing off the main character. So for some reason this upset me a lot. Kind of like I'd not known that a friend from my childhood had died after we lost touch or something. So I cried....for a good 10 mins. I'm sure the hormones will sort themselves out soon enough and I will go back to my usual (cold-hearted?) self, but for now I just have to let it out.
So back to the story. With two hours of no response from Miss C. I was getting very, very worried and scared. I couldn't bring myself to think of what might have happened but I just kept seeing her blackberry in the rubble with unanswered calls, emails and texts on it, flashing in the dark. So I cried. I cried much more than the situation called for but I was so stressed about being completely helpless that it seemed the appropriate response at the time. After about 2 and a half hours with no news I figured I had best contact Miss C's sister and parents as I was fairly certain they did not know she was there. So I emailed and called and then there were a few of us trying to get a hold of her. Another hour went by and I got word from her family that she had managed to get a call through to her mum and she was unhurt. What did I do as soon as I heard this? You betcha - I cried! But it was happy crying this time and happy crying is good :)
Miss C was remarkably lucky to say the least. The Christchurch Cathedral is a big tourist attraction and the spire on it completely collapsed during the quake. Miss C was across the road having lunch and was literally minutes away from walking over to the Cathedral. Thank god she was waiting for the Korean people who owned the place to come over with her bill and had forgotten that in Australia (and I guess NZ too) you have to go up and pay at the counter! Otherwise she would have been in the cathedral and that isn't something I'd like to contemplate.
So a very close call for her. I've never been in a natural disaster and can only imagine how scary an experience it is. Luckily, Miss C was evacuated with the rest of her American colleagues and flew to Brisbane on Wednesday afternoon.
On the weekend I took a flight up to Brisbane. It was so wonderful to see her and spend some time with her, especially given everything that had happened. It was a bit weird to be without Mr. Baby and the husband, but was also actually a nice little break. They two boys did wonderfully together too - so a very successful weekend all round!
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