My first EQ
Posted Friday, April 18, 2008 @ 09:25 am

At 4:30 this morning, I almost died.

Never being much for normalcy, I have feared earthquakes (and dogs) since I was a small child, not monsters or ghosts — or whatever "typical" kids fear. Oh no, I laid awake in my bed convinced if I fell asleep a massive earthquake would occur with such an absurd shifting of the plates, that the earth would nearly split into two halves. Closing my eyes meant a catastrophic quake would cause such a deep crevasse, my entire house would fall to the center of the earth. Mind you, this was in Atlanta, GA, where the closest thing to a natural disaster was the rare event of a few snow flurries that would in turn shut down the entire city. But, as I tell PB, there are no fender benders in my world, just flaming bus wrecks.

My best friend in fifth grade was from Japan. When I confided my unconventional fear of a splitting earth, she rolled her eyes and told me that they have earthquakes so often "over there" the teachers don't even stop teaching. "It's fun!" she said, reminding me of my Miami born and raised father who still tells tales of "hurricane parties." Something is wrong with you people.

So you can imagine this morning, experiencing my very first earthquake ever in my life, I was thrust back to my 11 year-old mindset of a quake of catastrophic proportions. As usual, I was awake and staring at the ceiling fan, listening to the Sprigg St. traffic. Suddenly, I heard a little jingle-jangle and before I could curse the cat, I realized everything was shaking. My bed was shaking. I was shaking. I jerked straight up in bed and screamed "Oh my God, here it comes," then leapt to the window.

Really? The window? And just what was it that was coming? That is not what they program you to do as a child, but seeming as I didn't have a little desk to huddle under and the doorway was too logical, peering out the window seemed to be the next best thing. Hey, if I have a one-way ticket to the center of the earth, I'm going to want to see.

A few weeks ago, in the middle of the day, I sent PB a random text message: "We need to make an earthquake kit." He ignored me.

I sent him another one a week ago: "Dude, we are so going to have an earthquake."

Don't worry, I'm quite used to my clairvoyance and have predicted things since I was small, and now at least PB believes me. Thankfully, this wasn't "the big one" as I expected, but I'm going to compile an earthquake kit, just in case.
Though, something tells me a few gallons of water isn't going to save me from the middle of the earth...

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