It may be indecent to say this now, but ironically, the record earthquakes that struck Japan today, destroying many things and killing presumably many people, helped restore something in my life that had been destroyed - my relationship with my sister.
When I visited Japan in February 2010 and met my sister with her husband, we had a serious and nasty quarrel, fueled partly by alcohol, accusing each other. That incident made us break off our relationship with eath other, and we remained on no speaking terms since then.
Having heard that Tokyo, where she lives, was also affected by the earthquakes, I found myself emailing her, asking about her safety and even apologizing about our quarrel. I received an immediate reply from her, telling me about her safety and also apologizing about the quarrel.
Since that incident I have been trying to convince myself that I was not to blame for it and I would never be the first to apologize, but deep inside myself something has been bothering me. I am sorry that I had to wait for such a national disaster in order to remove this "stone" from my heart, but I needed some special opportunity to initiate speaking to her.
I also need another special opportunity, hopefully a positive one, to initiate speaking to some known stranger who interests me.