Earthquake & Tsunami

So, before I came home from Utah after visiting some of my children and visiting little Miss C I thought of all the things I wanted to share of my adventure. I was barely home when I got the call from my older sister Dawn asking if I had heard about the earthquake and Tsunami in American Samoa? What? "yes", she told me, "turn on the TV". I did, but nothing at that moment so I decided to turn on my computer and started searching for anything that would give me some kind of news. I was thinking, every single time I take a trip, something happens. The Internet and TV didn't have a lot of information so I decided to e-mail my cousin in New York, surely he would have heard from his sister, my cousin, who lives down the street from my mom. It wasn't long after I e-mailed him, he called me and said that my cousin, Trudi who lives there was able to e-mail her daughter in Georgia with details. The most important part of it was that she said my mom was safe and all right. Thank goodness. Many dramatic events took place. After several times not being able to reach my mom, my mom was able to call out late last night and filled in more details. My mom always wakes up around 5am, her routine is prayers and scripture reading, then she said, it was Garbage day, so she gathered her garbage, she also mentioned that it is Spring there and it was a beautiful spring morning. She drove down to the end of the street, which is near the ocean to drop off her garbage, just at that moment she saw her cousin's widow and she waved to her, she was stopping in the Senior center there. Not very long after she returned home the house started shaking very violently, she rushed to a doorway and braced herself through the shaking. She said it was very long, like 2-3 minutes long. When it stopped she ran across the street where my uncle and his family live. They decided to go down the street towards the ocean as they approached the mouth of the road, they saw all the school kids running and screaming, "go to the mountain, go to the mountain" which is the other end of the road. My mom thought she would go to her sister-in-law's home which is at higher ground, but the police stopped her and said to go back, go towards the mountain. So she headed back towards her home. Most of the kids and able bodied went up the trail to the mountain, my mom, who's not getting any younger decided to drive to another relatives home that was on higher ground but not as steep to climb. She said they were there most of the day until they got permission to come down. My cousin Trudi had no idea of the Tsunami warning, her son who was on the other part of the island saw the tidal wave coming and called his mom to warn her but it was too late, Trudi literally swam out of her home in just a tank top and boxer shorts. Thankfully she is safe. When my mom was able to come back to her home, she had no electricity, phone service and no water, but she relayed to me, "I am fine"," I'm so thankful that the church teaches us to be prepared, I have plenty of bottle water stored and food items in storage containers." For some reason my mom's home is one of the few homes that have power and phone service which was restored in the late afternoon. She feels very blessed. She opened up her home, making sandwiches for the kids and others. She seemed to be in good spirits. She did say, due to recent events, first the flooding a couple of weeks ago and now this, that maybe, just maybe she might move to America. I agreed. One sad note, her cousin's widow that she had waved to earlier, perished along with some other elderly women who were swept out to sea. May their families find peace at this time.