I bleed Red, White and Blue... and not just for the USA.

10:05 last night found me lying terrified in bed, frantically googling "does Iowa have fault lines?????" on my blackberry.

Indeed it does. 3 or 4 minor ones, and it's only seen one earthquake, a 3.something on the richter scale.

But I swore I'd felt a tremor, (although it was probably attributed to my neighbors' ruckus through the thin wall of my bedroom) and so I'd gotten up and removed all hanging things from above the beds where everyone slept. I'd had a huge 50 lb mirror above my bed... That puppy was the first to go.

'Cause if Momma ain't alive, no one else is getting saved.

Does this sound ridiculous to anyone? I'm probably just overreacting, right?

I agree. But, you might too, if you'd had family involved in the 8.8 scale monstrous earthquake that ripped apart Chile up and down the length of the country.

Friday, Feb 26, Ricardo had Direct TV installed, and with it came TV Chile, a local Chilean news channel. It was the 2nd to last night of the Festival de Viña, and we were excited to put the girls to bed and watch Ricardo Arjona enchant the audience and TV viewers with his charm and amazing voice. We thouroughly enjoyed his performance (even slow dancing to "Dime Que No" !!), and when he was done we watched an episode of Lost that Ricardo had missed during the week. I'd already seen the episode, and I fell asleep on the couch while Ricardo finished it.
We went to bed at about 12:30am. 3:30am Chilean time. 4 minutes before the horror began in Chile.

Ricardo got up with the girls the next morning, probably somewhere around 7am-ish. He came in our room at about 8:30 to inform me that Chile'd had an earthquake.

And I (shame, shame, shame on me!!!) muttered for him to let me know how his parents were, and fell back asleep. Honestly, I knew that Chile had earthquakes all the time, and I didn't think it would be a big one...

I woke up a few hours later, and vaguely remembered what he'd said about the earthquake. Sure enough, I found him glued to the TV, watching live coverage of the awful destruction. Hundreds of people had been killed. Hundreds more were missing. Hours after the earthquake, a Tsunami hit Concepcion, Talcahuano, and Constitucion.

Those cities no longer existed. It seemed like whatever the earthquake didn't level, the angry waves of the Pacific had. I watched, mouth agape, as they showed coverage of the once-quaint fishing port town of Talcahuano, where we'd vacationed with friends and family in 2006.... The very streets I'd walked were in ruins. The little shops, the piers, the ports filled with fishing boats, those colorful humble houses-- all gone.

For the next few hours, Ricardo tried desperately to contact his family. But their phone just rang and rang, and no one was (obviously) online...

We comforted each other... "I'm sure they're fine. They're smart in an earthquake. They know what to do."

But... still we worried. Ricardo was nearly in pieces. I felt so helpless... He was so far away from them, and we had no idea how they were. The guilt began to set in for bringing him here, for ever separating him from his family.

That afternoon, Ricardo got ahold of a friend online, and asked him to call his family to check on them. Miracle of miracles, his friend got through-- we discovered it was just Skype that was not working-- and Ricardo bought a phone card and was finally able to call his family.

Their story was mostly scary and intense, with some humor to it... Silly Pablo :)

But they were okay. Their house was ok. They had no water, no electricity (the phone lines don't run through the electricty there in Chile, they have their own system, which is how Ricardo was able to call!!), no gas... But they had not been hurt, and still had a roof over their heads. We felt blessed.

So many people couldn't find their husbands, their sisters, their little children... Tears flowed freely for the next few days as I watched news of a husband and wife whose 4-year old son was missing after the tsunami (what chance did a child Ellie's size stand against those powerful waves??), a mother who hitchhiked hours and hours to get to her 6 year old son in the south of Chile (where she found him sitting atop a hill, completely alone), a man who'd seen the tsunami coming and had held tight to his baby, but the water was stronger than he was and carried the baby right out of his arms.

Awful, awful stories. So much death and sadness. People living in the streets, afraid their houses would collapse on them, or whose houses had already been destroyed.

Offers of help came from all over the world. And to all, Chile answered an unbelievable "No thanks. We've got this."

I thought they were being stupid at first. Prideful. How could they say they didn't need help? 
Meanwhile, people began breaking into supermarkets to acquire food, water, and diapers for their needy families. Survival turned into looting, and people began carrying away mini refrigerators, sofas, applicances etc. The military and police used tear gas and shot their guns into the sky in order to restore peace. A curfew was set in place in order to keep the streets safer.

Finally, help began to roll out. Trucks of milk, water, food, diapers, clothes. The great Chilean people united, worked together in the face of tragedy. Volunteers put together baskets of provisions for families in need. Emergency workers who themselves had lost their entire families, worked relentlessly for days without sleep, to rescue and search for victims who may be trapped under debris. Incredibly, guilt overcame all the looters who had taken the fridges, sofas, etc and they actually all returned their stolen goods!!!!!

A massive 24-hour telethon was organized in a matter of days, in a spirit of self-reliance. "Teleton: Chile Ayuda a Chile"  (Chile Helps Chile) -- incredible. Money rolled in non-stop as people swarmed to their locals banks to donate anything they could. Those cities who had been completely destroyed, where homes no longer existed, donated money to the cause. How, I will never understand. The goal was a lofty 30 million dollars. We weren't sure it would be met.

24 hours and $60,500,000.00 later--- They had more than doubled their monetary goal, and more help was offered in the form of truckloads of donated yogurt, milk, bread, water, building supplies, and other provisions.

Ricardo and I were in tears as the people rejoiced at the outcome of their telethon. I'm sure Ricardo never felt prouder to be Chilean.

And I was once again reminded why I love the Chilean people. I was so privileged to live among them for a year and a half and to have wonderful, loving, inspirational in-laws. Someday I will be retiring in the great country of Chile, and, if they'll have me, I will become a citizen.

Chile will rebuild, Chile will overcome, and Chile and its people will become stronger than ever.

And to my loving family there:

iFuerza Chile! Y como esto fue demasiado largo para traducirlo todo, les dejo un mensaje a mi familia querida alla en Chilito lindo, quieres son demasiado especiales en mi corazon. Estoy muy feliz de que uds esten bien, a pesar de todo lo que le halla pasado a su bello pais y su pobre gente. Llore mucho al escribir esta pequeña historia y al recordar la pena de la gente que se vio en las noticias. Lamento mucho que no hallamos podido estar alla con uds para enfrentar ese disastre juntos como familia, o que por lo menos su hijo no estaba con sus hermanos y padres para apoyarlos. Solo me alegro porque muy luego podremos reunirnos y pasarla bien como en los viejos tiempos :) LOS AMO.