Shaken But Alive

I’m guessing you were terribly worried about me, considering that I was in an earthquake and all. And not posting yesterday probably made you fear the worst. Was I buried alive under a pile of rubble? Or perhaps, having been knocked over the head by a dangling billboard, was I in a coma; my family keeping vigil by my bedside? No and no, thankfully. I am happy to report that we are alive and well. All five of us. And our pets. And neighbors. And all of Chicago area, actually.

One of the nice things about living in Chicagoland is that we have few natural disasters to fear. Wildfires? Not likely. Hurricanes? Never. Tsunamis? Impossible. Tornadoes? Possibly, although I’ve never been near one in almost 40 years of living here. They usually only hit trailer parks, and we don’t live in one. So who would have guessed IL would have an earthquake?? Harrowing as it was, I’ll share my story for all interested parties so they can take notes. I’ve heard it’s healing to do that. So here goes.

Early Friday, at about 4:30amish, Super Hubs and I woke up to hear what sounded like a rumbling from our closet. We assumed it was one of the cats making the noise, and then we fell back to sleep. And that was it. We didn’t realize it was a tremor from an earthquake in central IL that measured 5.2 on the Richter scale until we listened to the news the next morning. My kids slept through the terrifying danger and had no idea.

It was kind of disappointing, actually. No broken china. No running for cover under a doorway. No press interviews. No book deals or “move-of-the-week” contracts. Just a slight rumble that we blamed on a cat. At least it’ll make a breath-taking story to share with our grandchildren someday. (If we extremely exaggerate.)

But it was stressful, nonetheless, considering what might have happened. So we went out to dinner that night with my BFFs and their spouses, where we shared Thai food and conversation, and then headed to a club. The women sat at one table and drank margaritas and Red Apple sangria and talked about their feelings and menstrual cycles. The men sat at another table, drank beer and looked at their watches. Typical.