"It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's...an Earthquake?"

So....there was an earthquake today. If this is news to you, it's quite likely that you can't see, hear or read. Or maybe 30 second periods of seismic shaking in your house is a regular occurrence (and I will refrain from going any further with that one). When it happened, I was just about to check out at Old Navy. It's funny to me that I have a tendency to jump to the worst conclusion in every other mundane circumstance, except the ones that aren't so mundane. (You know, like an earthquake). Instead, I stood there thinking up every other possible (but somewhat illogical) scenario for why I couldn't keep my balance. The following progression happened in about 8 seconds:

First:

"Dang, they've got some serious AC/ventilation system issues up in this place" (Plausible).

Then...

"Are we close to a railroad track?"

Then...

"Damn, this is one doozy of a panic attack...wait, why is everyone else reaching for their Xaanax too?"

Then...

"I bet it's a jet taking off. That's what it is."


Then...

"Nope, it's a helicopter. Definitely a helicopter. Some poor person is being medi-vacced from the roof of this Old Navy building."

Then....

"OMG it's the rapture. I must be getting ready to leave this earthly vessel behind!" (But can I take the suede ankle boots with me?)

Then...

Oh. Okay, it's an earthquake. Maybe I shouldn't be inside the building under these big box-things, hanging lights, and shelves. Off I go.


I looked around to see how everyone else was reacting. Some people were running to their cars. Some were huddled close together in doorways.

Others were so shaken up, they just stood there, frozen:




I rushed home to my babies- who were staying with Grammy- to find that they were both still sound asleep. Really?! I couldn't hope to sleep that good with a glass of wine and some Ambien. Then I came home to our house and couldn't believe what I saw in the kitchen...




That was it. The only sign in my house that an earthquake had actually occurred.


I make light of it, but in all seriousness, it could have been worse and I'm grateful there's been only minimal damage and no casualties. (And after this, I simply cannot imagine what the people in Haiti felt a couple of years ago). So, an eventful afternoon- to say the least- and another thing to add to the list of "Things I Would Rather Not Encounter, Ever Ever Again."