Pink Saturday 1/16/10

I am saddened this Saturday at the Tragic Earthquake in Haiti. Like many, I have been glued to the TV, praying and crying for these people. I truly cant imagine the Horror of what they are going through.

Warning, this is a LONG story post. If you want to just look at Pink Pictures, I have added some . :)In 1994, I lived in Los Angeles. We were awakened at 4:30 in the morning by what felt and sounded like a Freight train going through our Apt. I had fallen asleep on the couch that night watching TV, while my Ex and my son slept soundly in the bedrooms. Half asleep I could hear my Ex yelling at me to get into the hallway. Thankfully he had gotten my son from bed and had him safe under the door jams in the hall.
I was stuck on the couch. It was bouncing up and down about a foot, foot and a half off the floor, so I grabbed onto the pillows and held on where I was. The power was out and everything was black, yet I could hear glass breaking and I envisioned every window blowing out. That is what it sounded like. It was SO loud ! It seemed to take forever, yet it was just under 2 minutes. You know what I thought of during it ? " Please God forgive me if this sofa goes through the ceiling and I land on the guy below us and kill him" Not fear that I would die, but sorrow because I knew I was going to land on him.
Then it was over. I was SO relieved and happy, we were OK ! The Ex yelled at me to hurry and get dressed as we had to get out of there. "What ? " I thought, " HELLO, we made it, we are safe ! " Then the rumbling started again and the apt swayed. I got dressed rather quickly.

We went outside, crawled over the bricks from the chimney that fell down from the house in front of us and went to the street to congregate with the neighbors and make sure those we knew were OK. Ex went to the neighbors to get the 50 gal. Piranha tank off of the man's bed ( only in LA, lol !! ) Thank goodness, I had called my Mother in Vegas before we left as the phones were down for three days . Cant imagine what she thought watching the news.
The scariest for me was not the Earthquake. I was half asleep and it was half over when I realized what it was. But the Aftershocks. Good Gosh, they were scary !! We were already tired, stressed and scared, and the radio warned us that what we had felt at 4:30 in the morning might have ONLY been a pre-shock to a Bigger earthquake. The odds lessen after 24- 72 hours. Lovely.......

I was out of cigarettes and had just gotten my "visit" and only had very MEAGER supplies. Had planned on going to the store in the morning. ( Pretty personal, but REALLY this stuff happens at the WORST times ! ) The stores were all closed because there was no power for hours. Also the gas stations were closed as well. So I walked down the street and "begged" from the only lady of child bearing age I knew for help. Luckily she was a Smoker also, and had "visitors", lol ! ( To those of you new to my blog, I have been smoke free for several years now, Praise to Jesus ! :) )My son and I were alone during most of the morning, as the Ex decided now was a GREAT time to go shoot some photo's. There are reasons why One becomes an Ex. :) We crawled in my car and waited out the aftershocks till he got back.

Then we finally went back into the house ( about 11 am ) and viewed the damage. There were big cracks around all of the windows. The fridge had fallen onto the counter and the contents broken and all over the floor. The Ex's Liquor supply had fallen out of the cabinets and was all over the floor, BROKEN. EWE ! The 32" TV we had was inches from where I had been on the sofa. It didn't hit me because the cable cord stopped it. Surprisingly only one antique plate I had on the walls fell off and broke. We had no Gas as the Ex turned ours, the downstairs apt and the front house off. ( Had to wait a few days till they could get out and turn it back on ) Glad he was cautious, as there were so many fires that day.
That was TRULY the scariest day in my life. My son and I left LA a week later to go stay with my mom for a few weeks as the aftershocks REALLY got to me. I had to drive almost to San Diego to get around the city as there were overpasses that had fallen down. A 5 hour drive, became a 9 hour drive. This was the Northridge Earthquake. Oddly as I type this, it occurred on Martin Luther King Day in 1994.

I could go on and on, and please forgive me for rambling so far, but I wont. Other than to say, what we went through is one tenth what is happening in Haiti right now. Please Pray and Donate to The American Red Cross for the Haitians right now.

Happy Pink Saturday. Thank you Miss Beverly, we appreciate you dear Lady !! :)

Hugs,

Rhea

p.s. The birdhouse was one I painted and sold on Ebay several years ago, and the two valentine baskets were gifts I made last year for two dear friends :)