Sunday, October 7, 2012

Are You Prepared?

My sister had a dream the other night.

In this dream she was home with her four kids while her husband was away at work. A neighbor friend was visiting from across the street. But it was dark inside, and it was dark outside. And it had been months since they left the house.

Something happened and the whole area was stuck. Phones, electricity, gas, internet were all down. Sewage was backed up. Water was contaminated. Air was so thick with pollution that no one could leave their homes. Her husband couldn't get home. Her neighbor (who was visiting from across the street) couldn't get home. She couldn't contact anyone outside of the house, so she didn't know how anyone else was doing, or if they were even still alive. And she had no batteries for her flashlights, and diapers and wipes for her babies.

She woke up and called me right away. I don't know why she called me first -- maybe I was the first one to answer. But she told me, and I quote: "It is time to start taking emergency preparedness seriously." Now I know that her dream is not vision or revelation, but that doesn't mean it's meaningless. Dreams are pretty important in our family, and I have no doubt in my mind that her dream could be a very real possibility. Or at least give us some perspective.

Of all aspects of emergency preparedness, she wanted to make sure she mentioned two things:

1. Don't forget the necessities.
Out of all 11 of us siblings, I'd wager my last dollar that this particular sister of mine (since I have so many, I'll call her Lana) is the most prepared for emergencies in our family. I know they have life insurances, wills and trusts, emergency contacts, and food storage. And she has her older kids (4 and 6 years old, I think) memorize a lot of this information. But the fact that she couldn't produce any light because she forgot to store batteries for her flashlights surprised her. In reality, she said, she indeed did not have a storage of batteries or diapers and wipes or a can opener, and her dream proved that she needed to re-evaluate her inventory.

2. Communicate your plan.
The part of Lana's dream that scared me the most was that she didn't know where her husband was or how he was doing. I would be in a massive panic if I couldn't reach my husband or children in times of crises. (It's official: I'm not sending my kids to Kamehameha unless they're in high school.) And we all can't take HAM radios with us everywhere we go. But at least knowing that each family member has a plan in case of an emergency -- a meetingplace, an evactuation plan, a storage/emergency supply, even people to contact -- will be 1,000x more helpful on my nerves. Lana wanted to make sure we all had an out-of-state contact so that everyone in our family who is not affected by our disaster will know how we are doing, and will keep the other families in the loop.

I'm posting this more for my reference than for anyone else's, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to share. Life is uncertain, and the world is clearly getting worse, so it's best to be prepared for whatever strikes. So for the rest of this year I am adding emergency preparedness and food storage onto my list of resolutions, and I hope that you would consider doing the same. Even if you have enough to only last you for a day... that is one more day prepared than you were before.

I wish I had wonderful links to add to this post about emergency preparedness, but alas, I was not prepared. :-P But I know redcross.org and parenting.com have great resources, and of course the addicting pinterest has as well. Be prepared. Good luck.

The end.

2 comments:

  1. This is such a GREAT post Esther! I'm working on a hott mama post about being prepared and getting together natural and essential things for preparedness so this was some GREAT insight!

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    1. Aww, Nea, you're the best! And yeah, it's totally true that even in emergencies, if you are prepared right you can still look and feel fabulous while taking care of the bare necessities! I can't wait to see your post!

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