Friday, April 18, 2008

Earthquake!

My heart leapt awake at 4:30 AM. I was violently shaking. No, the HOUSE was violently shaking! I sat up and looked out the window. No wild weather, but this must be a tornado! The walls were literally shaking inches back and forth, the roof creaking and moaning, the entire house jittering and shaking as if it were about to fly into a million pieces. I began to panic.

"MICHAEL!" I cried. He sat up beside me. "Earthquake," he said, looking wildly around. 10 seconds passed. "Sit tight, honey," he said. "The baby!" I said, lunging for the door. Still shaking madly. If we had any photos on our wall they definitely would have been flung to the floor. Michael pulled me back, went for the baby, and yelled for me to stand in the door. He grabbed the baby and stood in the next doorway. The shaking slowed.

Well, the ground's shaking slowed. I, on the other hand, was still trembling madly. I managed to nurse baby for a few seconds without dropping him. He fell right to sleep and I put him back in his bed. I ran into bed and wrapped my arms around my honey. He laughed and pulled me close as I was still trembling madly. Adrenaline still rushing through my veins, my pounding heart slowed as I relaxed into the pillows.

We pulled up the internet and started to see what was out there. We filed a "Did you feel it?" report with the government, at the same time that something like 6200 other people did that first hour. The whole event started to seem more adventurous and less terrifying. After an hour or so, we decided that it was 5 AM and we could get in a little more sleep. We hadn't gone to bed until midnight and, well, we were dead tired. But not dead, thankfully.

The official report: 5.2 magnitude, 35 miles north of here.

4 comments:

MKShelley said...

It's weird that we didn't feel it until 5:30 AM. Also, when I filled out the Did you feel it? report, it said I was the first one... They must not have been updated yet or something.

Anyway, about being in Indiana. I told you a few months ago that we moved here (on a comment on your museum post I think)and actually asked if you wanted to meet halfway to hang out one day, and I just thought you were ignoring me. Good to know that you just didn't realize I lived in Bloomington. Now I don't feel as bad =).

We moved here for law school, but it didn't really work out, so we're moving to Arizona in June to be with David's family.

Brooke said...

Crazy, huh? I woke up and said, "What IS that?". Pete calmly told me it was an earthquake, that it would probably last about a minute, and that it was about a 5. The kids slept right through it, lol. I went back to sleep, but Pete got up for the day...

Ann-Marie said...

Oh my goodness! I'm so glad your okay and able to think of that as an "adventure".

Mike and Emily said...

I heard about tremors in the midwest and wondered if you guys were hit. What a wild experience! I'm glad you're all okay!! Love love!