I Became A Fightened Frantic Parent Last Night!

I admit it!  I became the frightened, frantic parent last night!  I got scared when I heard about the 8.9 earthquake in Japan and potential Tsunami in California and Oregon.  I have a daughter in San Francisco, California and a son in Portland, Oregon.

I was listening to my favorite Coast to Coast AM Radio Show when I heard the devastating news.  The show quickly switched over to following the moment by moment news coming in about the quake in Japan and Tsunami activities interspersed with various experts coming on to speak about the situation.

I started out feeling lots of empathy and sympathy for the people of Japan and other areas that might be affected.  Then all of a sudden, it got personal and close to home when I heard mention that California and Oregon were on Tsunami alerts.  I thought of my children and panicked!  I shifted my radio to the San Francisco station and then to the Portland station and I went back and forth between the two of them, hearing the latest predictions and news.  I thought of my children and panicked!

I called my son, Ben, in Portland, Oregon.  The phone kept ringing and ringing and ringing.  He did not answer.  I assumed that he must be in a very deep sleep.  That didn't make me feel very secure ...this kid would probably end up sleeping right through any major disaster.  It must be all the sports he does that enables him to sleep so deep.

Next, I called my daughter, Liz, in San Francisco.  She answered the phone in a very tired, cranky voice.  I had obviously woken her up.  Well at least this kid wakes up, I thought!  I told her that maybe she should stay awake and monitor the situation with the potential Tsunami.  She disagreed, saying that there is nothing she could do anyway and hung up and went back to sleep.  She probably won't even remember the phone call or the conversation in the morning.  I think she may have been talking in her sleep!

My kids probably think that I am overreacting, but I am a mother after all and mothers do get protective about their kids.  The truth is that I feel helpless living so far away from both of them realizing that there was nothing I could do to help them if this Tsunami did threaten their lives.  As I laid in my bed in the dark listening to the radio stations, I came to the conclusion that I just had to trust in the universe and in my children's intuition to keep them safe.

You may wonder why I bring up my children and what they have to do with my art blog.  Well, I have come to realize that no matter how much great art I create, my two awesome children, Liz and Ben Wu, in the attached photo will always be my greatest creations!