Last weekend continuing on with the idea of getting out more and enjoying the paradise that surrounds us here in Hawaii; we decided to check out the Honolulu Zoo. I really don't know how I have lived here so long and yet not once made it down to check out the local zoo... especially to go see Inoke's cousins down in the gorilla cage... (HAHA, it's only fair he teased me all weekend telling Nadia we were going to see "mommy's family the albino monkeys"). It was a great day. The weather was perfect and Nadia was totally and completely thrilled with the opportunity to roam around exploring and seeing live animals. We will definitely have to make another trip down to check out the Keiki Petting Zoo in the not too distant future.
This weekend we had some unexpected excitement. Saturday 1:45am Inoke called and woke me up to tell me that there was an earthquake in Chile and a "big tsunami" was headed for Hawaii. Honestly after only being asleep for 2 1/2 hours, the first thought wasn't very kind and I just wanted to hang up and roll back to sleep. Let the tsunami come. The next conscious thought was... Dang it I really should have listened and gotten our 72 hour kits finished. I mean seriously how many times do they announce and stress to us at church the importance of food storage and emergency preparedness. Every Sunday in the church program lists one little item to add to your emergency kit... there is NO EXCUSE. The whole "If you are prepared you shall not fear" uh yeah I wasn't on the prepared side of this equation. I didn't have much time to berate myself while frantically dumping out a big Rubbermaid container from the guest closet and gathering in the necessary items. Lucky thing I had the brains to give my sister a call and she didn't mind me waking her in my frantic stressed out to the max state... she calmly read off a list of items that were in a 72 hour kit and walked me through the packing. She didn't even hang up once while I had to put her on hold every 3 minutes to answer Inoke's repeated calls of "Are you packed yet?!? Are you leaving yet?!?" Thanks Kirsten, I love you! I loaded up the back of the car and got Nadia into her car seat and headed down to Kailua so we would be with Inoke if the worst happened. He was stuck at work... no call outs allowed. The few storms and disasters that have hit Hawaii have always come with little to no cell service and the idea of not being together was not a fun thought. Nadia and I safely arrived to Inoke's work about 3:45am and took a much needed nap. After our nap the fun began. We parked the car under a big mango tree in the parking lot and waited... and waited... and waited some more. Family kept calling to check on us and give us updates on what the news was saying about the waves. Nadia was amused with running around picking up mango seeds that fell from the tree for a while. Then Inoke brought out some cereal and milk and that entertained her for a while more... she had a great time. I had a LONG ten hours of waiting and thinking. Like how many times have you been asked the question "If you were stranded on a desert island and only could take three things what would you take?" I was surprised at myself and what I packed in our frantic rush. Our passports, my scriptures, and necessities were there. My make-up, novels, and even my jewelry wasn't there. (Funny side thought... this week I had attended some professional development courses at BYU offered by Barbara Barrington Jones, one of the classes was on appearance and the instructor stressed that it was mandatory for women to look presentable even when going to the grocery store. Hair should be fixed, blush, eyeshadow, and lip gloss were a must and clothes should show people that we care about our appearance. Well I looked down at my rather disheveled appearance on Saturday; hair back in a messy ponytail, ZERO make-up and a pair of baggy basketball shorts, tee-shirt, and sweatshirt rapped around my waste with bright orange flip flops... uh if the instructor of that class saw me I would be MORTIFIED). As the day progressed on I thought, would I really be OK if I lost all of our worldly possessions and all I had was two changes of clothes (not even the cute ones) and what was in the back of the car? And this calm feeling answer of "Yes, you have Nadia and Inoke, the rest doesn't matter." kept washing over me. I know it was right, I would be OK. We would pick up and start again, as long as we were safe that was the only thing that really mattered. Now that we are out of danger, top priority 72 hour kits.
