Hidemi’s Rambling No.133

by Hidemi Woods on March 16, 2010

After the big one in Chile, there were three earthquakes in the past four days in Japan. One of them was not so small and one of them had its seismic center right beneath the area I live in. Two of them made me jump out of bed. An earthquake occurred when I stayed at my grandparents’ house one New Year. The New Year’s holiday was the only time in a year that wives were allowed to spend the night at their parents’ home as a custom of my hometown. My mother used to stay overnight at her parents’ home once a year in New Year accordingly, along with my father, my younger sister and me. When the earthquake happened, it was early in the morning and I was sleeping with my sister between my parents and my grandmother on the tatami floor. My grandmother jumped out of her futons and without hesitation, grabbed me to carry me down the hallway. She was dragging me with all her strength rather than carrying me. Because I was eleven years old and already quite big, I could have run faster by myself…