Khao Lak

I must admit I did not know what to expect when I was going to Khao Lak, how much damage was going to be able to be seen from the tsunami two years ago? My heart was heavy in anticipation and remained so as I was there. I woke up in the middle of the night in a panic after a dreamed rumble awaken me. I sat there thinking about my friends and people who just for no reason at all decided to tell me about the tsunami and the impact it had on their lives. I just listened because I wanted in some way to wrap my brain around the magnitude of what had happened and being in Khao Lak in some minute way, did that. I would hear my friend Jim ask when people he knew came back from Khao Lak, "did you see my house?" he would say, I still am not sure if Jim has been back since the devastating tsunami. I made a point to see Jims house because noone he talked to ever did, I wanted to give him a full description because I thought he needed it. His house to this day still has a giant hole where the sea swept through it. My friend Paul was swept a mile out to sea. There was a lot that was rebuilt and a lot yet to rebuild. I thought of everyone I knew who had suffered through the tsunami and the people they knew. I thought of everyone who had told me their story and how my one friend had never told anyone, but would tell me in bits and pieces through a veil of inebriation, because I think that is the only way he can deal...... My heart goes out to all of them.