Shaken Up and Scared

We interrupt the blog posting to bring you up to date...

Early this afternoon, just before 2pm, I was in my kitchen looking out into our backyard while talking to my husband on the phone who was out on his lunch break. There was some background noise from our neighboring houses. It was no doubt one of the landscaping companies working on someone's yard.

Suddenly, I felt something like vertigo coming on. I thought maybe I was just a little lightheaded, but why, I asked myself. Then I thought maybe it was just the neighbor's gardening equipment gone awry or the strong odor of the gasoline mixed with the scent of the freshly cut grass that was somehow getting to me. But, I was hearing too much noise from around and inside the house. I thought of the possibility of Liam monkeying around with my pots and pans in the kitchen behind me, but I looked and he wasn't there. I took two steps to look out into the living room to see him sprawled belly down on the floor with some toy cars. I called out to him and asked if he was all right. He reacted and sat up right away. He looked at me and asked, "Mama, what's that jiggling?" I grabbed him and just held onto him.

My mind was racing and I was scared. I wanted to cry, but I knew I had to keep it together for Liam's sake. I didn't know whether to react and run out into the backyard with Liam, get ourselves to a doorway or monitor the things around us to see how long this was going to last or if it was going to get stronger. So, I just stood there and looked around me. The pots were shaking under their lids, the pans, strainers and other kitchen utensils/gadgets that are hanging on a rack against the wall were rattling and swaying back and forth. I looked at the sink to see the water in the pot I had been soaking also swaying and running over. It felt like it lasted at least a couple of minutes.

All the while, Bill was repeatedly asking what was happening to us here. I finally told him what I had felt and what I was seeing. He said he felt something, too, but thought it was from sitting out in the sun for too long, or perhaps construction around the building. We ended the telephone conversation because he was going to call work to see if any announcements had been made about evacuating his building. He then took the elevator down from the rooftop garden where he was having lunch.

I turned on the TV and flipped the channels, but there were no reports, just the soaps and court TV. I finally found one network channel that started reporting on the quake, Fox I think: Virginia 5.8 earthquake felt all the way up to Massachusetts. Terrifying.

Later, I asked Liam what he felt. He showed me by lying down on the floor the way he was at that moment and then jiggling in place. He said he had heard "something from the basement." He asked me if it was the neighbors monkeying around. When I explained that it was something under the earth shifting and moving, he asked, "Did the astronauts do it?" My little guy, trying really hard to understand.

What a day. I still can't believe it. I don't think I will ever forget the sounds and images of my house shaking.

What a year I've been having. Before this earthquake was a hailstorm on August 1st that shattered my rear car window (more on that later). I'm almost speechless, definitely shaken, but stirred up...

This scripture came to mind: "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;" (D&C 88:119)

I'm going to check on our 72-hour emergency kits to see if they are up to date. I'm so grateful that the Church has been reminding us for decades to get these ready. New York City calls them "Go Bags." Whatever we call them, it's time to have them and a plan ready.