I started getting texts this afternoon asking if I'd heard about the earthquake in Haiti. I hadn't, and I don't think I want to watch the news because I have already seen what it looked like before natural disaster. I can't begin to imagine what it must be like there right now. 
The night before we arrived in Haiti {on the USNS Comfort} last April we were briefed on what we should expect. Those warnings didn't really prepare me for what I saw when I walked out the next morning and saw, or smelt, Haiti for the first time. Garbage so thick in the water it clung to the sides of the ship. Mountains bare of any kind of trees because they'd all been cut down. The air thick with smoke and the terrible smell of burning plastic and garbage. I'll never forget the feeling of helplessness as I listened night after night at the daily briefings of how many people were treated. What I couldn't stop thinking about was how many had to go home untreated. It was a hard country for everyone because it felt like we were barely doing anything at all. We'd sit outside at night looking at the lack of lights on the shore {no electricity} and talk about the experiences in the field that day with tears in our eyes. It was heart breaking and so tender to hear of the simple things that made tiny bits of difference.
I started the shower tonight and instead of scalding hot, it was just lukewarm. The longer I let it run the colder it got. For a split second I missed my steamy shower and felt a bit picked on before I remembered what was going on in Haiti. A cold shower was exactly what I needed tonight to be reminded of how good I have it.
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