Day 1

They canceled all flights. This seemed to be the logical step, except my wife and sons are stuck in Oregon while I am here in Utah. I'm a little pissed. We talked and she (and the kids, Connor and Seeley) are going to stay at my grand parents farm that is two hours out of Portland until they open back up. If they don't I may be going on a road trip. We'll see. Damn it, airliners are annoying.

Watching the news this evening, drinking some rooibus, and checking the analogue clock on the wall above the TV. 9:07. They are saying that China and some of Mongolia have been over run. They're vague and it bothers me but from what I can gather the borders of the country are being secured. They flash pictures of riots in Beijing, and Hong Kong. Things look bad and you can tell by the reporters voice that they are not telling us everything. Maybe it got out? I don't know. They might not know themselves, other than that something is not right.

The Phone rings.

It is my brother, Chad. There is no greeting. He just says that flights will not be opened up again. I tell him that Dawn never made it back with the kids but that they were heading to our grandparents house. Were probably already there. He reassures me that everything is going to be fine, but it doesn't help and he knows it. We disconnect and I focus on the TV again. They are on to the weather, and this above everything else comforts me. It's this trivial thing--the weather--and if there is still time to let me know that Friday and Saturday are going to be rainy, then there is no real reason to worry. Not yet anyway.

As of right now there is little that I can do except wait for my wife's call letting me know they're safe. Should have called an hour ago.

The phone rings several minutes later and it's my son Connor. He is two. He says hi and that he misses me. I tell him I love him before he gives the phone to his mother.

"We're here," she says.

"I was worried."

"There is a lot of traffic. I think people are panicking." I did not want to tell her about the China riots, and assumed she hadn't seen.

"You'll be fine."

She is worried. She has a tendency to worry a lot. About our boys, about us and out health. She is a mother, and I love her for it. She carried a lot of worry through out marriage. I try to comfort but it is hard this far away. Finally, with crying kids in the background she leaves. I tell her I love her and hang up.

The news depresses me and makes me anxious so I turn it off, skimming channels before landing on an old sitcom and fall asleep to the laugh track.