Well, where to begin...
Okay..I was doing my Naval Reserves on Sunday, Oct. 15. I was working in the galley (term for a kitchen...yes, I am a cook...don't you dare laugh!
). Well, actually, I was talking to some co-workers when all of a sudden, the galley shook violently! I thought to myself (yes, this is my naive Cincinnatian coming out), "Wow, that must be a real big delivery truck!"
When I observed my co-workers' actions and behavior, I immediately thought earthquake. I called Hon. She was crying and I shared with her to calm down and if the quake starts again, go to the doorway as quickly as possible. Then (gets better), the electricity cuts off at 10:15-ish and the whole island is without power for 10-12 hours! Oh, vey!
After finishing my drilling at the Reserves at 1:00 p.m. (Honey and I agreed for me to just finish my drill so that I wouldn't have to reschedule), I went to Hickam Air Force Base to get supplies. I had picked up water and beef jerky after waiting in a long line of people (could only buy emergency supplies by store direction). I only had $20 dollars to my name.
We were not prepared for an emergency. When I got home, I was disillusioned, discouraged, and depressed. We, by God's grace, did not suffer any damage in our apartment (we are on the island of Oahu and not the Big Island-the place where the EQ happened). I was drained and trying to read the Bible while drained wasn't productive. So Honey and I slept. Praise God for sleep because when I woke up, my head was clear to think straight. By God's grace, I remember listening to the radio while driving home from Hickam. There was a part of the island had power called Aiea. I decided to not go to church because we knew that church wouldn't have AC and driving at night was risky.
I also knew that Honey needed real food in her stomach as well (we only had Dove cookies, bread, and beef jerky). We drove to Aiea and went to the ATM to get money for food and gas (a little over a half a tank was left). We went to Subway to eat (the line was long, of course) then went to the supermarket to buy Spam (gotta love it), soups, bagels, a cooler, and ice. We drove back home to a dark neighborhood (the lights were still off at 7 pm) and decided to pray then call it a night. Hard to believe, I went to bed at 8 p.m.! I'm a night owl!
By God's grace, the electricity came back on at 11:38 p.m.
What did I learn from this experience?
ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS BE PREPARED FOR EMERGENCIES!
We learned our lesson and I learned a lot about myself as a leader and how I reacted to the whole situation than respond. By God's grace, we will do better in the future especially since we will be moving to the mainland soon. Snow...brrrrr...