With no time to mourn, they worked together to survive the freezing temperatures and the devastation of their lives. Quickly reorganizing into groups, they chose leaders, assigned tasks, and helped the young and weak. Men scavenged wood and gasoline. Women boiled water and prepared food. Within days, they established a complex community, with a hierarchy and division of labor, where everyone was assigned daily tasks.
"We knew help would come eventually," said Osamu Abe, aged 43, who helped organize the 270 survivors. "Until then, we had to rely on each other to survive."
The tsunami might have swept away their homes, but not their spirit. The Hadenya refugee camp was neat and organized in the Japanese way. Paper listed names and assigned daily tasks, like chopping wood and cooking. Boxes of supplies were stacked in orderly rows along hallway walls. Toilets were immaculate, with cups and soap lined up neatly.
Abe-san naturally assumed authority of the survivors since he was head of the local nature center. The first thing he did after the tsunami was have older school children set up tents in the parking lot because the aftershocks made people afraid to sleep indoors. Later he sent a group down to a marsh to gather water and firewood.
"People need a sense of direction," Abe-san said. "They were stunned from having lost everything."
The next day, groups scoured for wreckage for supplies. A truck washed up on the shore filled with food, which barely kept them fed. 17 year old Shohei Miura found gasoline in smashed cars and beached boats.
The ability of the people of Hadenya to band together to survive is an example of Japan's communal spirit and organizing abilities. It is a story repeated by other groups of survivors in isolated pockets along the ravaged northern coast of Japan, some still waiting for relief.
Gombatte! ! ! (Keep going! Be strong!)
It was a rainy night so I simmered Beef Short Ribs in wine and spooned them over Mushroom Polenta. I served it with Steamed Broccoli topped with a Garlic/Butter Sauce and a side of Grapefruit and Avocado Salad. Craigy likes to end a meal with a bite of sweetness so we indulged in cream-filled eclairs.
He brought an amazing bottle of wine...a 2009 Clos Pepe Estate Pinot Noir. I'm not kidding; I kept licking my lips after each sip. There was absolutely no bite of tannin at all. He got this $60 bottle of wine at a special wine tasting. Oh, that's what an expensive wine tastes like. Hmm...not like the $2.99 bottle I get at TJ's for cooking.
Here's the description, which is much better than anything I could write: 900 cases produced, 14.1% alcohol. Medium strawberry/garnet color. Primary and bright fruit aromas dominate pre-release: juicy strawberry, cherry and raspberry references make this wine surprisingly open and enticing. There's a bit of spice and earth in both nose and mouth, but the fruit and baby fat are still dominating the flavor profile of this ebullient, young cuvee. Bright and structured in the mouth, but persistently slutty in its infancy, we expect the middle and finish to fill in as the wine settles into its role as a long-term ager. A spectacular, cool vintage very similar to 2007 and 2005, this cool climate gem was a pleasure to grow and make: no real hardships or challenges in the growing or vinification. Best 2013-2020(?).
I am starting to live the Law of Attraction on purpose. I know this because so many good things are coming to me so easily and effortlessly.
And I am getting better at deliberately creating. I know this because good things are coming to me faster.
I have started my new job and I LOVE IT! ! ! It seems the only thing I did was make one phone call. Everyone else worked hard and called and emailed and met and wrote and somehow all that came together for me in the form of a job offer.
While it's true I did not expend a lot of physical effort, I did spend a lot of time imagining and feeling my way into the job I wanted.
Then I let the General Manager of the Universe figure out all the details.
Much easier this way than the old way of efforting.
I'm working for a great company (I had no idea they were that wonderful until I started working for them)...working with a great manager...working on a great project...with wonderful people.
I've been going through Orientation for the last couple days. Yesterday, my new boss called a department meeting and asked everyone to say their name, explain what they do, how long they've worked there, what they like and a challenge they have. Every single person LOVED their job. There were no negatives, other than two people saying they never wanted to leave and thought maybe that was a negative.
LOVE IT! ! !
I'm learning so much and it's so fun.
Seems to me that in the past my brain would have been fried by the end of the day and I would have been exhausted with all that new information overloading my circuits. But Alexis noticed how energized I was when I got home at 6:00 pm on Friday. That's what it's like where there's no resistance. Just breathing...and enjoying.
Life is good...and it gets better and better.
I wish I could tell you all the details. For a while, I was saying, "it's unbelievable" because so many good things were coming to me so quickly. But now I'm realizing that this is the way Life is supposed to be. So I believe...and accept...and expect.
And all those good things didn't happen accidentally or by luck. I spend time consciously, deliberately focusing my thoughts and feelings on what I want, what I want, what I want. It's not hard, but it does take attention.
I'm loving it.
It's so much fun.
I'm in that place Abraham talks about: enjoy where you are and be eager for what's coming!
May the rush of the vortex surround you,
Catherine
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