JACKIE LILBURNE

What brings us together as a family is our love for each other. I suppose because we’ve always been like that, you take it for granted. But when something like this happens, you suddenly become that much more aware. Like not letting the kids go to school without saying goodbye. I have this fear now–it’s something I try not to let the kids know about–where I think about the people whose loved ones didn’t come home that night. Didn’t walk back through the door at the end of the day. What is their life like now… what are they feeling? So yeah, I’m more aware of having that kiss in the morning before the family leaves. I try to put those feelings into action; show that closeness we have with one another. Whatever else these earthquakes were they certainly gave us a kick in the bum, one way of telling us to get on with life and stop taking the most important things for granted.