Wednesday, July 30, 2008

True Californians


Yesterday at 11:42 am we were hit by a 5.4 magnitude earthquake. It wasn't the first earthquake I have felt, but it was certainly the biggest and the longest.
Here's my story. I was just closing my garage door when the house began shaking. The car looked like it was rocking. Other earthquakes I've experienced were over in a matter of moments, so when this one kept going I started to get a little nervous. I got even more nervous when I swayed as the ground under me rocked back and forth.
"It's an earthquake," I said to my kids, "C'mon, let's get outside." I grabbed Kate and we hurried into the backyard. By then it was pretty much over. It lasted 30 seconds! Our reactions? Ian and Jake thought it was fun. Kate used her scary deep voice to say, "Quaaaaaykake!" all afternoon. Ben, who lived through the 1989 San Francisco earthquake congratulated the rest of us on becoming true Californians. I have two feelings on the subject:
1. I'm grateful that it wasn't any worse.
2. I need to be more prepared in case it ever is any worse.

6 comments:

Cami said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cami said...

We're so relieved the effect was minor even though the numbers and obviously the feeling seemed major.
What a relief!
I don't think I'll congratulate you on being inducted into California citizenship. ;>
FYI: I deleted a grammar error of mine.

Anisa said...

Ummm, sounds like fun! Just glad it wasn't me. And we all need to get better prepared because you never know when it will happen.

mindy said...

oh wow! I haven't been in an earthquake that I remember. When I was a kid, we had a smallish one in Idaho while I was asleep and I woke up wedged between my bed and my nightstand.

Missletoe said...

Wow! You guys "rock", true Californian's!

stephanie said...

I experienced my 1st earthquake this year--@7 in the morning I was sitting in bed w/ my daughter and it was shaking. When I saw the chandelier swaying I yelled "awesome! It's an earthquake!" sarah looked at me like I was crazy.
Actually I'm studying the 1906 SF earthquake and it's fascinating. I've been thinking about being more prepared too, since I live on a fault line.