Both the kiddo's had to use the potty, Aidyn quickly finished and ran off to play with toys in the dining room and Mady sat in the bathroom taking her sweet time as usual... Then ... The house began shaking.
1:51pm
Aidyn came running from the dining room:
"Mommy! Mommy! What's that??"
Me: "I don't know monkey, go find your truck...." I walked down the hallway thinking someone was at the door, trying to determine all the loud noise and shaking.
..completely puzzled, a million thoughts ran thru my head. My motherly instinct immediately kicked in, and I grabbed the 60" TV that was rocking from all the shaking as I stood there thinking. (Priorities first, right?!)
--Is the dryer off balance? No, I'm not doing laundry.
--Is someone really banging on the front door that hard? Looking at the door, the storm door was shaking and continuously slamming, terribly loud.
--Is there a natural gas line under our house that is bursting? No.. I don't think so.
--That's a helluva train! ... I turned to look, no train.
--A storm barreling thru? No, it's beautiful outside! Well, WTF!
After nearly 10sec of thinking and trying to construct ANY plausible explanation for my house shaking the way it was; One by one, pictures began falling off the walls. That's when it hit me, WE'RE HAVING AN EARTHQUAKE!
I pointed and barked at Aidyn to get outside immediately as I ran down the hallway and pulled Mady off the potty (Butt-naked / unwiped mind you.. yea, I know, Im a kick-ass mom, I know it). Aidyn had a fit that we didn't have time to get our shoes on, and Mady kept laughing that we were going outside. I didn't know what to do exactly in the event of an earthquake, I just knew I was at home alone with two toddlers and EVERYTHING in my house that was hanging on walls or sitting on tables was falling down. Of course I wasn't certain that it was indeed an earthquake, I just knew, for some idiotic reason, My.House.Was.Falling.Down. and it was time to frickin evacuate!
Of course while standing in the front yard with uncooperative Aidyn and naked Mady, my next fear crossed my mind. I've seen movies, I know how this happens: Is the earth about to split between my two feet? Will we fall into lava? Am I about to watch my house fall to the ground? WHY IS MY HUSBAND NOT HOME!
When it was finally over, we cautiously went back inside and my cell began ringing.
AK: (laughter/ half smiles / little concern) Did you feel that?!
Me: YES! Please tell me that was an earthquake and it is over! (slight panic/ lots of fear/ verge of tears, shaking)
AK: Yes, it was an earthquake .. yadda yadda.. it was so cool.. I just looked up waiting for the roof to fall wandering WTH.. I can't believe you felt that down there.. what did the kids think. (Still smiles. Is this a damn joke?! Im freaking out here!)
Me: Yes. I felt it here, and it was utterly horrible. I never, ever want to experience that again in my life! The kids and I are alright, Aidyn was pretty scared because it was so loud.. and Mady pee'd all over my shirt/hip because she was naked. Just tell me it's over! (first tear drops.)
AK: It's all over. It's done, promise.
At that moment we felt the first after-shock.
Me: WTF AK!!! YOU LYING JERK!! It's NOT over! I have to go, I have to save our house, TV, dog ... err.. KIDS! And btw. we will NEVER move to California, got it?! Click.
The phone lines were mostly dead on and off for the next couple hours in the state. Virginia and states following north all the way to Jersey etc. felt the earthquake that day. The best of it was centered around Mineral, VA and we measured to have felt a 5.8 magnitude earthquake that day. After shocks continued all afternoon, around 8:10p we had a 4.2 magnitude aftershock and many smaller ones hours in between.
See here, Im not making this up.
Everyday I strighten the house before the sitter arrives and I leave for work. On this particular day, I hugged my babies and took a look around, when Alicia (our sitter) walked inside with the expression "Wow!" at the emptied toy box, I responded,
"Yea, This house was hit by a darn earthquake today, look at the place!". And tomorrow, if we feel aftershocks, that will be my excuse then too! :)
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