Tuesday, August 23, 2011

shivers

We experienced our first earthquake today.  J was with me at work, T was at home sleeping.

Around 1:45 pm, I was working in my office visiting with 3 other colleagues.  J was snoozing dreamily in his moses basket in the corner.  I stood up and strolled across the room to look at some material, when I felt small vibrations in my inner ear.  Consequently, this made me feel a bit dizzy.  I asked if anyone in the room noticed the peculiar vibrations.  Someone laughed and pointed out a bottle of water teetering on the desk.  Almost instantaneously, the ground began to shake in a very violent, rhythmic pattern.  And that's when I lost it and began to shriek.

GET MY BABY!  SOMEONE GET MY BABY!

One of the women who was standing close by frantically lifted up J's basket by the handles.  Seconds later I was there, whipping him out and into my arms.  We fled to the doorway and stood there for a few moments until the shaking stopped.  Visibly distraught, we quickly walked outside to see hundreds of people fleeing their high-rise office buildings.  Thankfully, we saw no signs of injury or severe damage.  With a sigh of relief, we quickly learned that we had experienced a large earthquake.  The largest our area has seen in history.  J woke up but, perhaps sensing my fear, was very quiet and observant in my arms.

The phone companies were immediately bombarded with calls, allowing us only to communicate via FB or text.  I heard from T who jolted out of bed and out the door - consequently locking himself out of the building.  I heard from J's Godparents, our colleagues at our other locations, my friends, our family.  Thankfully, no one was injured, just shocked.

I sped home to be with T and burst into tears explaining to him how terrified I was, not for my own life, but for the life of J.  I so desperately want to protect him.

I will forever DESPERATELY try to protect him.

I'm okay now, thankful that we can all "laugh" about the extensive news coverage of bricks falling to sidewalks.  But now that I'm a mama, I am not sure that I will ever recover from the immediate stress those 45 seconds put on me.

Thank God, one extra gray hair will be the only negative consequence of today's event.

Did any of you experience today's earthquake?  
Have you ever experienced an earthquake?
Please share how you dealt with the situation.

I'm from the midwest.  I can handle tornados like a champ.  
Earthquakes, on the other hand...

14 comments:

Gina said...

This was my first earthquake experience. It was surreal. I didn't know what to think! After the floor stopped shaking I picked up the phone to call my mom and check on my boys. They felt nothing!

Kate @ The Fetching Life said...

So glad you are BOTH ok! I thought these things were only supposed to happen on the west coast?!?!

Stephanie said...

Oh goodness, goosebumps- I can only imagine the fear you felt!

I live in CA and we get earthquakes quite often, I live in a valley so we don't feel that many of them, but they are everywhere- and can be really scary! Thank God no one was hurt!

mama foosa said...

tornadoes...eeek! my husband went to ku and actually nearly got a job in kansas city if it weren't for me :(

we're right outside of DC and after our office stopped shaking, i grabbed my pumped milk and peaced out...yes, i chose to save my milk over my $4k laptop ;)

i'm glad you're ok, just shaken up! it was definitely scary and our cells didn't work so i couldn't get a hold of our sitter for a few minutes - so nerve wracking!

Babylicious said...

I'm so glad you're okay!!

Anonymous said...

we had the earthquake here in Toronto, too - though I didn't feel it

last year we had an earthquake of similar scale - but at the time I was sitting on the 15th floor, so definitely felt it. My ventilator was shaking back and forth.

Perhaps it wasn't all that prominent today because I was on the 2nd floor?..

Happy you are all safe :)

Kelley said...

I'm so glad everyone was ok in your camp. I just have to laugh though. I know it was scary, especially when you totally aren't expecting that. I'm from California though. I remember one time we had a good sized earthquake while I was at work. The building swayed. We all paused to see how bad it was going to get. Then it was over and everyone was just back to work.

But you can laugh at me..I live in the Midwest now. The tornado siren terrifies me..

E @ Life on a Quilt said...

Glad all of you who experienced the earthquake are doing well!

Kelley, It's all about perspective, isn't it? :)

stephanie said...

bless your heart, I would have been terrified. I can do tornadoes like no big deal but a quake? I've never done. glad y'all are ok!

Andrea said...

It was nuts! Isn't it crazy how the protectiveness just comes out? Glad you guys are ok!

Stephanie said...

Oh my gosh - SO scary. My heart just dropped reading this. I'm so glad he was there with you. To go through something like that that with my little guy NOT there would have been traumatizing to ME! :::Shudders:::

I'm glad everyone is okay! Things like that are SO scary!

LOVE MELISSA:) said...

I am so glad everyone is okay. We felt the aftershocks,crazy!! These things are so scary!

Unknown said...

I'm so glad you're okay! We didn't feel it here, since I live way down south, but a lot of my family out east did.

Allie said...

I got teared up reading this! I'm glad you both are ok!