A Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On!

Where were you at 11:42 am today?

I know where I was.

I was sitting on the floor in the middle of our living room. Two babies were attempting to climb on top of my head, screaming all the while.

Suddenly, the house started to shake. It happens sometimes when an helicopter flies overhead or if a large truck passes in front of our house. Only, there was no helicopter and there was no truck. We were having an earthquake.

I grabbed Gracie and Luke and held them to my chest as the house shook and things started to fall off our bookshelves. My eyes were glued to our entertainment center as I attempted to calculate if it might hit us if it fell. We rode the shaking of the earthquake for a little over 15 seconds. And then, suddenly, it was over.

The phone rang seconds after the shaking stopped and it was Daddy checking to make sure we were okay. The babies continued what they had been doing just prior to the earthquake (i.e. screaming their heads off and trying to push one another off of me). I sat there having to think carefully about my responses to Daddy. Pardon the pun, but I was very shaken up.

Living in Southern California, I've experienced lots of earthquakes. At this point, I am pretty blasé about them. The house will shake a little and I'll stay wherever I am. They'll end and I'm fine. But today was different. Today, I was alone with 2 babies and there were lots of things that could fall on us and hurt us.

In the grand scheme of the world, a 5.8 earthquake is pretty moderate. We are all fine and the only thing that happened was that some things fell from shelves and from our dressers. But I, now a Mommy, am forever changed. I don't ever think I'll be able to experience earthquakes the same ever again.