Hope in Disasters

I have a friend who grew up around Valparaiso, so when the news hit about the recent earthquake, I could only think of him and what he and his wife must be going through wondering about their family in Chile.

Of course, they weren't the only ones I thought of. I, like many others, am still stunned by the one that hit Haiti not so long ago. 

But this one came closer to home.  Thankfully, I did get pretty regular updates from his wife. First, that there was no communication, then, last night, finally some good news.  There's no power or water, but his mother and the rest of his family is all ok and safe.

I love my friends P&P very much though we are now geographically separated.   They are part of my Boston roots. I've always felt a strong connection to them, and they throw the best parties!   But more than that, once you have their loyalty, you're family. 

Here comes the woo-woo part, which I usually avoid writing about here.  I seem to have a weird sixth sense about the big natural disasters, and just the night before I saw news of the quake, I was dreaming of P&P and of Chile.  Just before Haiti, similar dreaming, The big Indonesian Tsunami, Katrina, same story. 

I hadn't spoken to them in ages, had fb'd to P the She, 'girl, we need to tawk this weekend!' on like Thursday.  Then I woke up from this dream, turned on the news, and of course, called her immediately to see if they knew anything.  At that time, they didn't.  but P the She was great about keeping friends posted as they received news.  We only spoke briefly in that first call, she needed to keep phone lines open for obvious reasons, but I assured her, while I had her on the phone, that I didn't have a dangerous or dreadful sense about P the He's family.  I told her they are probably okay.

She can take this kind of talk from me, because she's a bit like that herself and we respect this about each other.  She agreed, I don't feel like they're in a bad way either. 

Then last night she texted he had received word from his niece that everyone was okay. 

So here is one bright spot in this seeming chain of disasters recently. May there be many many more.