Inertia, distraction, and those factors that slow us down. One for me is the anxiety that can come on like a thunderstorm when I'm in contact with the chaos that we live amidst all the time. Most of the time, the "reality" that I'm living with is the mundane, the reassuring routine that cracks open sometimes to expose the terrifying forces swirling around us.

Recently when the Chile earthquake happened, my brother in law phoned to warn us that there was a Tsunami warning for our region. He was a few time zones earlier, thought we might not be awake to find out. Very considerate. We phoned friends who were a few time zones further on.

The folks that we warned called later to thank us for the consideration, and that brought the news that a couple of 40 years together were separated by the wife's death and the memorial was the next day. Sad news, but the consideration broke through the isolation and brought some love when most needed to the survivor. One of the others who connected with us shared that they were selling the house and moving back to the West Coast, giving up their dream of living right on the coast of Hawaii.....I mean these folks live 10' above the ocean near Hilo, right at the edge of the lava---great view but not the place to be if there had been a Tsunami as was experienced along the Chilean shores...We are thankful for the warninig, even if the Tsunami was small in Hilo---

So the consideration and love for friends is what patched up the rip in the "normal", it's what makes it worthwhile to go through this. When we remember just how precious our time together is, maybe it helps to moderate the little angers, the little dissapointments, and the big fears that lie just beyond.