The Tokyo Chapter: After the storm

Typically storms don't bother me. I like the sound of pounding rain. Of course, what I'm talking about it Seattle storms. There is a lot of rain, a bit of wind (enough to have to clean up your yard the next day), and sometimes a bit of thunder and lightening (but always far away). They are a reason to stay inside with your family, play some games, and possibly light some candles when the power goes out for a short (usually less than a day) period of time.

Seattle doesn't get typhoons. Even most typhoons in Japan don't really stress me out because I live far enough inland that the worst of the damage isn't anywhere near me. We knew a typhoon was coming. We typically have a couple days notice and just pull down our storm shutters before it hits.

However, last night's typhoon seemed different. It was probably the worst storm I have ever been through. We knew the worst of it would hit after my son's bedtime, so we played it off as no big deal. We prepared quietly throughout the day by shopping in the morning and cooking a big pot of Japanese curry in the afternoon for dinner. Between rain showers, I had my son pick up all of his shovels, rakes, and toys in our rock garden and put them in a plastic bag in the closet under the stairs. I brought in the umbrella stand that we typically keep on the front porch and removed the Halloween decorations from the outside door.

We kept the sliding glass door open for most of the day, since I like to listen to the sound of the rain and the cool air felt nice. Soon after my son went to bed around 8 pm, a very strong wind blew the curtains up abruptly and we knew it was time to close the storm shutters. My husband pulled the down the metal sheets in the living room and bedrooms, protecting us from broken glass. Within minutes, we could hear the wind blowing outside something fierce. I tried to ignore it, but it is hard when you cannot look outside.

Around 10 pm, we were watching TV and the house started to periodically shake. I kept thinking to myself, this is a typhoon, not an earthquake! Our things were not moving on the shelves like an earthquake, but the house was definitely moving! My husband commented that he was really glad he wasn't in his office high up in Mori Tower.

With nothing he could do to help the situation, my husband headed to bed. I was soon to follow once my episode of Grey's Anatomy wrapped up. I wasn't really surprised to find our son snuggled in our bed with my husband. As I lay in our quiet bedroom, the storm sounded even more intense. Although I tried to relax, I kept thinking "with this gust, will I need to throw myself over my son and protect him from shattered glass or something impaling our wall?" Even with our storm shutters pulled, the sounds of the wind were terrifying. I restrained myself from waking my husband, who needed to head to the office in the morning. I just was so grateful he was warm in our bed and not at his office or on a business trip.

After laying there until well after 1 am, I finally turned on a meditation podcast to get some sleep. I got a couple winks before my family decided it was time to get up.

The morning revealed what the wind had done to our surroundings. My fall crop of beans, sadly, did not survive. I should have brought them inside.

Soon we left and headed to the park. We were meeting friends there for an afternoon barbeque. There we found lots of downed trees and debris strewn throughout the park. It could have been worse, but I'm glad it wasn't.