Survived my First Earthquake!

I am now a true Washingtonian – I have survived my first earthquake.

This morning I was lounging in bed, actually it was just after 5am, and my husband was up reading his Bible in the kitchen. I was jolted wide awake with the sensation that someone jumped on my bed.

I sat up and began to call the kitty, thinking that maybe our cat had disturbed my sleep. He’s a very big cat. No kitty anywhere.

I called my husband and made him look under the bed with a flashlight. After accidentally shining the light directly in my eyes two times, he assured me there were no boogie men under the bed.

We gave up our investigation, but were mystified. I KNEW something bounced my bed and I was a little freaked out.

Reading the news online this morning relieved my fears. I am not a dreamer, a hallucinater, a liar or a freak. I am a victim. An earthquake survival victim. This morning the KOMO headline declared “4.5 Magnitude Quake Rattles the Puget Sound Area.” No damage known so far, no trauma, just bragging rights to living through the Quake of 09.

I have lived in Kansas, tornado alley, suriving seven years of deadly tornadoes. During the worst storm, a rare inland hurricane forged its way between our house and our neighbor’s house. No damage to houses, but it took us days to removed all the downed trees from our driveways.

I have lived in North Dakota and Minnesota and survived too many years of blizzards and highway closures. We lived through the winter of 96-97 with 117 inches of snow, beating the previous record by about 27 inches. The average winter snowfall in ND is 40 inches. During that time we survived, and I mean survived, 8 major blizzards, 2 ground blizzards and 4 winter storms. (Yes, they’re all different.)

Of course, after winter comes spring, and the snow must melt. It turns into water, which floods the very flat prairies. The flood of 1997 devastated the state of ND when three days of thawing was followed by three days of rain, followed by days of freezing and snowing. Telephone poles snapped all across the state like a row of dominoes. People were drowned, stranded, lost their homes, their animals, their equipment, their businesses, their hope.

I have been warned since I moved here to fasten down things in case of an earthquake, and I never got around to it. I am so thankful there was no damage and everyone is fine. So, I can laugh, and go check for damage.

After all, a pen might have rolled off the kitchen counter.