Nightmare

I've had a frustrating day attempting to get some posters printed for school.  Who'd have thought it would be such an insurmountable task?  One printer wanted to charge an exorbitant price; the next had a great price...but not enough of the right kind of paper; the next... oh, it just went on and on.  What a nightmare!

No, not a nightmare.  Of course not.  Finally home, still posterless, at the end of the afternoon I sat quietly for a minute with a cup of tea, and thought about a real nightmare - the news I'd heard on the radio in the small hours:  a massive earthquake in Japan, a deadly tsunami. 

I have many friends in Japan.  Most live south of Tokyo and most likely will not have been directly affected by today's events.  But I'm sure that whole nation will be feeling grief and fear - and we can all share those feelings.  We forget, day to day, that our ordinary lives are so frail, and that Nature can be an all-powerful force.  It's scary to think of all the lives swept away in a moment by that terrifying wave; almost scarier to think of the countless more lives that now must carry on, changed forever.

So yes, I had a rather fruitless and frustrating day - and I don't much mind.  In fact I'm thankful for it, and for the chance of another day tomorrow.  My heart goes out to Japan.