3 years on

A letter I wrote to the kids a few days after...

Today was the scariest day of your mum's life. We had another earthquake, a 6.4 that caused a lot of damage to our city, homes and to people.

I was at the letter box when it happened. You were inside on your own. I fell three times trying to stay upright and get back to you. I will never forget what the grass looked like and how the trees moved. It rolled like someone was shaking and pulling a thick green mat out from under me.

T, I knew you were in your bed. I stood in the hall by your room where I could see you in the lounge M. You were  sitting on the couch as it shook, you looked more confused than scared in that moment.

You ran to me and we both went into T's room. Your whole body shook when I held you T, I think you must have been asleep but had been woken by the noise. You were very scared.

 

I'm so glad I moved your drawers away from your bed as they had fallen over. Later you said " The earthquake broke my bedroom".

We went to M's room after that because it was lighter, the block out blind on your room made it dark and it was making you both more scared. Less things had fallen down in M's room too. We hugged on M's bed and I put my body over you both when the aftershocks happened.

Dad wasn't with us, he was out of town for work. I had to be brave for you. It was really hard.

Grandad came to see very soon after, he was checking on our family and looking for Nana. We went with him to his house. We drove to Aunty Sean and Shelley's first but they weren't home. The drive was scary. There was lots of flooding, lots of worried people trying to get to their families and some power lines had fallen down. Grandad drove over one and I thought we were going to get hurt by it.

Sonny had run away but he hadn't gone far. Before we left I got him back, he was scared too. I put him in our bedroom but he cut his paw on some glass so Grandad helped me clear the garage for him to get to his bed. I didn't like leaving him behind but there was no room in Grandad's car and I didn't want us to be at our house alone any longer. The street had flooded, yucky grey water was half way over our lawn and getting closer to the front of our house.

No one had power or water. We couldn't go inside Nana and Grandad's house as there was too much broken glass and damage. We all sat on the lawn listening to the radio and making phone calls checking that everyone was ok. My cell phone battery had gone flat. That wasn't a good feeling.

A few hours later Dad got to us, he had bought you some toys while he'd been away, you played with those in a tent that Nana had put up. He had been very worried and had driven without stopping. He told me that he drove faster than he normally does and that he passed some police cars that didn't try and stop him.

Later, when it got too cold we went home and we all slept in a giant bed we made by pushing all of our beds together. I held your dad's hand all night and watched you sleep. I cried thinking about the families that had lost people and about how lucky we were that those we loved were safe and unhurt.

I love you so much.