It was raining when I picked Cheeks up from daycare today. I squeezed her stroller's rain cover over the stroller frame, and, after a lot of tugging and silent cursing, finally managed to put it on properly. My daughter stared out inquisitively from behind the thick wall of plastic.
Raindrops falling all around.
I, on the other hand, had forgotten to bring an umbrella. My umbrella is still in my hotel room in Christchurch. It--along with my favorite jeans, my house keys, my laptop computer (with all the photos of Cheeks McGoo from her first year of life, shame on me for not backing those up), passport, ipod, and the rest of my luggage--it was all left behind in my hotel room after the earthquake.
Since I was in a meeting when the earthquake struck, all I had with me was a North Face tote bag that I had been using instead of a purse. (The better to tote around papers in.) Fortunately, inside my tote bag I had my wallet, blackberry, digital camera, a hair brush and some lip gloss (oh vanity!), chewing gum, and lots of notebook paper and pens (which came in very handy). After the earthquake, I felt like a little refugee with my tote bag. I carried it everywhere, not wanting to be left with nothing if there was another earthquake.
This is not a tragedy though--the things I lost are just things, mere ephemera that can be replaced. What can't be replaced are the mothers, the fathers, the children, and the friends who died in Christchurch on February 22. I am blessed and lucky to be home with my family when there are those who will never get to go home again.
And this being New Zealand we're talking about here, I'll probably even get my luggage back eventually, once the center of the city is deemed safe and the hotel staff can reenter the hotel to put things back in order. It just might be a while.
In the meantime though, I'm going to go buy a new umbrella.
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