Matt Stoker: 1/7/15 A first time earthquaker

I’m sure many of you are starting to be earthquake veterans by now, but yesterday was the first time I felt one.  Two in fact!  And almost a third.  As we’ve seen, they ultimately were nothing to get too emotional about one way or another – no damage and plenty of people who should have felt it say they didn’t

 

It was exciting for me, though.  I’ve been through plenty of storms, blizzards, underneath a couple of tornadoes and in the path of a hurricane, but that’s the first time I’ve felt the ground move under my feet.  The first one was kind of cool.  We all slowly came to the realization that it wasn’t just people slamming a door really hard or jumping up and down.  That it was an actual event.  A few hours later, I felt the second one.  It lasted slightly longer and was a little more noticeable.  To be honest, it freaked me out a bit.

 

I know that it wasn’t anything to worry about, but the fact that I just felt the building vibrate (something that I take for granted as a solid and immovable structure) gave me this weird, uneasy feeling in my stomach.  Even though I know we’re not likely at all to see “the big one” around here, I thought about how scary that would be.  It’s not really something you can hide from.  The ground itself is acting against you.  A weird concept to be sure.

 

Around 1:00 this morning, the windows in the house rattled.  Something easily ignored, however I said, “I bet that was another earthquake.”  Then I went to bed.  From naive excitement, to looming dread, to seasoned indifference.  Tuesday was a strange day.

 

Matt Stoker