When a typhoon shows you how much you've grown

I woke up this morning with water covering my bedroom floor. I jumped right up to get a mop mopped it all up, but the water kept coming from under the bed, a bed way too heavy to move right now.

The window in kitchen next door has a broken lock and so it swings open when there is wind like this. I spent about 30 minutes trying to figure out how to keep it from opening, tied a rope between the lock and the handle which kept it from flying open. In the meantime I realized that none of the 10 friends I live with were responsible enough to refill our water supply.

The previous night I told a friend we needed toilet paper because people get stupid during disasters and buy it quicker than it can be shipped to the stores "Don't worry! We'll be ok! We can use our hands! We won't die! No need to worry!" He's not the most patient of my friends. "I'm not worried about dying, I just want to make it through the next 24 hours without any unnecessary pain in the ass. You better hope we have clean water to wash our hands if we are wiping our asses with them".

I wasn't trying to be an alarmist. I was in a similar typhoon 2 years ago and I was in the big earthquake in Japan in 2011. My friends attitude is that if there are inconveniences we can just deal with it, I can appreciate that. Using my hand to wipe my ass won't be the end of the world. Fasting for a day or two isn't REALLY a huge deal in the scheme of things, but I'd rather fast of my own free will then because I was too stupid to store up some food. There is a difference between being worried and just simple preparations.

Since the two more responsible roommates are out of the country, I've taken up the role of mommy. Last night I went out in the wind to buy toilet paper with one friend empathetic to my cause and we proceeded to boil lots of water and fill up all the containers we had. Then everyone preceded to get high enough that they wouldn't remember there was a storm. They put on loud music and partied until the morning when they all fell asleep. I slept early because I didn't know what today would be like, if a window broke (or if my room flooded, which in the end it did) I wouldn't be able to sleep in the morning. Good thing I slept before the worst of it came!

So as I was multitasking between refilling the water supply which everyone else had forgotten about and mopping up what new water had leaked in, keeping the bad water out and the good water in, I was letting thoughts come and go. I had short spurts of wanting to be angry at my friends for not being responsible in a natural disaster. I didn't let any of the angry or disappointed thoughts grab hold though.

I thought about how I was being useful, where in the past I had not always found a use for myself. I thought about how this was a learning experience for me as well as them. I thought about how I had slept for a full 7 hours where everyone else would be lucky to get 3 or 4 hours and how I would have had even less if I had stayed up to play with them. I thought about how I love them even when they are stupid and how I prefer them to friends who would freak out and panic. I thought about how NOT ANGRY I was and how amazing that felt. Up until very recently I would have let my emotions get the best of me and here I was with a bunch of extra work to do to keep my room from flooding and to keep everyone hydrated in case the pipes have a problem, and I'm just flowing with it, going along with everything, but still very clear in my will.

As I filled up the last of the water supply, one friend woke up and saw the window sturggling to stay closed. He went to his room and pulled out some metal wire to tie the window to the kitchen counter. I felt grateful.

It feels so good to just NOT get angry or annoyed. What can you do about a typhoon, other than just enjoy it? I understand that that was how my friends felt as well. I would love it if they could have that party now instead of last night, now that I'm awake and the flood is mostly taken care of. Still it's nice to spend the day steeming in bed. I feel good that I can say everything I want to say and do everything I want to do and deal with what can't be helped and deal with whatever comes my way calmly. I really love this person I've become! Even a typhoon is a chance to see the good!

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