Set off the Fireworks

It's no fun having a child overseas. I've had children in Thailand, Spain, Honduras, and even Hanoi (only now it's  called "Ho Chi Min City.") It's sort of an unsettling feeling to realize someone so precious to you is far away and probably facing some sort of danger. Brenna was in Thailand during a coup. And I worried for days when she went to Vietnam, especially when she told me "Mom, I think the war is over now." Doesn't she realize the danger she's in??? Sure enough, she fell down an enemy tunnel and hurt her ribs. Now THAT wouldn't have happened if she was safe and sound in SLO. Now she's in El Salvador. And she's perfectly safe. The reason that she is safe is that she is surrounded by men carrying machine guns. There's one at the coffee shop she goes to, the mall,  the ice cream store, campus, her house, etc. See? Safe. Then this weekend El Salvador held elections. A far left leader was expected to be elected and her team was warned of possible violence. So, the city is filled with machine guns and there might be VIOLENCE??? Great. What happens when one act sets off the next? Do the guards all just start firing? Of course, the elections went well, and there was no rioting, and all that food that they stocked up on in case they had to stay inside for a week, will have to be eaten in peace. I magnified the danger in my mind because I am upset about so many things lately. Horrible things happen to me out of the blue these days, and I am a little edgy about anything happening to the precious loved ones I have left. She's safe and sound. But it's still unnerving to talk to her with fireworks going off in the background. "How do you know they are fireworks and not gunshots?" I asked. She said "Mom, I've been here long enough to know what gunshots sound like." That's REALLY comforting.