One Year Later

March 11th is not just any other day passing through anymore. One year ago, the date held heavy and special meaning to me forever as it does to hundreds and thousands of people.

I am originally from Sendai, which was affected deeply by the 9.0 earth quake, and tsunami. Thank goodness, everyone in my family was ok, but they still live in the same area and it is less than 80km (almost 50 miles) away from the Fukushima nuclear plant. Also, they are getting minor earthquakes daily. If you are new to my blog, you can read my posts from last year after the earthquake here, here, andhere.

I just want to say thank you to those of you who ask me about my family in Japan. Right now, there is not much to say except what I wrote above. My husband and I have been trying to convince them to move out here, but they have all the reasons not to, and I don't think it is happening.

Most of the survivors are still struggling to rebuild their lives, and their grant money from the government is ending. Because of the one year anniversary, there are special programs on the Japanese television and I have been thinking about what I can do to help lately...

I posted the picture on top, because that picture spoke to me so strongly among so many disaster images. That picture was taken when she was looking at the direction of her son’s kindergarten, and didn't know if he was alive or not at the time. I saw her interview a few days ago, and I am happy to tell you that she was reunited with her husband and son a few days after the photo was taken, and now they are trying to move forward. As a mother of three, I cannot imagine being in her shoes for those several days.

I am going to keep praying for the people of Japan, and hold my family a little tighter today.