Earthquake

I felt it! At around 7:15 this morning, Ben was in the shower and I was somewhat awake in bed. At first it started as a little shaking and I looked around, wondering if I was getting vertigo again. But then it came as a rumble (I think I even heard it?) and it felt like my bed was riding on tiny tidal waves -- or at least that's how I perceived it. Well that sounds exaggerated but it's the best way I can explain it. Stuff on our dresser was shaking a little but it wasn't strong enough to knock anything over.

I was thinking, "The kids! Oh, the kids are safe because I'm paranoid and won't hang pictures over their heads." And then I started telling the earthquake, "Okay... that's enough... enough already... okay stop... really... stop..." And it eventually did. All of this was probably less than 15 seconds but that was plenty for me.

I jumped out of bed to see if Ben was worried in the shower. He didn't feel the shaking at all! (See, it wasn't that strong.) He asked if anything broke or something to that effect and I told him no and explained what happened. He acted like it was no big deal and he told me that they have earthquakes in Alaska fairly often, sometimes so hard that you can't stand up (he grew up there). Hmmm. So that put it in perspective but I was still unsettled. At this point, the pull stick things on our blinds were still rocking back and forth. So it wasn't my imagination! I was worried about where the epicenter was, since this seemed like just the ripple effect. I know there's a faultline running along the mountains in Utah.

The epicenter was in Nevada, south of us. It was originally reported as a 6.3 magnitude. It sounds like there was damage there and hopefully people weren't hurt -- none reported so far. I was relieved that my friends and family in Utah were okay. Some of them didn't even feel it.

Jonathan told me a few hours later that when he woke up this morning, his bed was wiggling. I asked him what he did and he said, "Well actually I just went back to sleep. I woke up again when Daddy turned off the shower and then I came upstairs." I guess it doesn't bother a 4-year-old that his bed is wiggly!

One more thing. My parents felt the earthquake too - they're about three miles from here. When I called my dad, he said "Whoa!" and told me their chandelier was still shaking. But a few minutes ago I got off the phone with a lady that lives between here and my parents' house and she didn't feel it at all. She was in her kitchen making breakfast at about that time and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Another lady about 2 miles past my parents said "It about shook me out of my bed!" That's so crazy. It must be the wave effect. I'm going to have to do a little research to understand why that happens.

Again, I know we're lucky that these things are minor here. They are much worse in other places. But I wouldn't mind if that's the last time I ever feel an earthquake!