Monday, April 5, 2010

Earthquake!


O.K. Here's the glitch in my often unbridled love of southern California:

EARTHQUAKES.

I hate earthquakes, and yesterday's was very scary. I was talking to a friend in my dining room, and when he stood up to leave, I noticed the chandelier swinging a bit and asked him whether he'd hit it with his head. Simultaneously I heard the chink, chink, chink of pots and pans hitting each other and glanced into the kitchen to see them swinging gently together from the ceiling. All of this happened all at once, but I looked at my friend and we both said earthquake? because the sensation was so very different than the jolts and loud bangs that we'd experienced at other times. I stood up and said that I needed to go to Sophie's room and then I made my way down our little hallway and I'm not kidding when I tell you that it felt like I was in a little boat in the vast ocean such was the swaying. It felt like each step was a heavy plant and I had sea-legs, and when I sat down on Sophie's bed where she was peacefully drowsy, my friend followed me into the room and stood in the doorway. Only a minute or so had gone by but the mermaid was swaying gently from the ceiling as was the wooden butterfly. I glanced outside the window into the backyard and saw the boxing pad swinging wildly. I felt distinctly nauseous and had to put my hands on either side of me on the bed. D said it sure seems like a long one and then everything stopped and the mermaid continued to sway and we tried to laugh but were clearly unnerved.

The nausea lasted for another half hour or so, and my nerves were edgy and rattled. There's an exquisite sensitivity that one feels after an earthquake, but I'm not sure it's a good feeling.

Why, again do I live here?

15 comments:

  1. I'd rather go through a hurricane than an earthquake. At least you know a hurricane is coming and you can prepare or leave.

    Glad your family & home came through without damage.

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  2. Exactly what Kathleen Scott said. Although hurricanes do last for a hell of a lot longer.
    Could we just not have either?

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  3. I didn't even feel it and I live closer to the epicenter than you do. Everyone else in my house felt it, though. I must have been distracted or something.

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  4. Glad to hear you and yours are okay. In my neck of the woods, it's tornados. I'm deathly afraid of them.

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  5. Oh so glad that all of you are safe! I always waited for the "big one" when we were in La Jolla. I even breathed a sign of catastrophe relief when we moved to West Texas only to be told we were in tornado alley (and us with no basement)!! From there we moved to Charleston and hurricanes. In fact, we moved from Charleston only a few months before Hugo hit. Bring on the thunder and lightning--I can take them!

    Best,
    Bonnie

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  6. wow! i´d totally be freaking out. glad you are all well! hugs!

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  7. YES!!!!!!! Like a sea sick feeling!! It was so strange. I was leaning on the couch when I started to feel...woozy. I asked Jack to stop moving his leg...thought it was HIM making the ground sway. And then when he stopped, but IT didn't, I shouted out, "Does anybody feel that??" and as usual, no one answered. I literally got down on my hands and knees, because I thought I was going to faint. Wasn't until I saw a neighbor that asked, "Did you feel that??" that I realized it was not ME, but the EARTH.

    Now, I am not leaving LA because of earthquakes...but it certainly helps with the decision!

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  8. We live here because everywhere else has hurricanes and tornadoes!

    :)

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  9. I'm so thankful that you are all safe!
    The only "big ones" that I've been through were one in SF at night, and one here...and no one was hurt in either of them. They leave a deep mental impression, though. I remember thinking it sounded like a train was coming, but there were no tracks nearby.

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  10. Yikes -- I didn't even hear about it till today. So glad you are all ok!!!! I wish I felt like we were prepared for a big one but sadly our stuff is not in order so I just feel panicky every time I hear of another one hitting.

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  11. I'm terrified of earthquakes. I was in two in childhood, and I still vividly remember the panic. I'm glad you are all well.
    PS love the new banner

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  12. I'm glad you're ok, and nothing that takes place without warning like that can be anything but scary. But I think you live in SoCal because it's gorgeous and warm all the time--and the beach and ocean!! When we drove through Shenandoah on Friday, we saw one last unmelted ridge of snow-ice on the ground on a 70 degree day.

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  13. Yeah, we were in a restaurant, and I'd just had a couple of sips of wine, and I suddenly thought, "Man, this wine is going to my head!". Then I thought that my dreaded vertigo had returned. Then we all realized that the ENORMOUS chandeliers hanging above our heads were all swaying enthusiastically. Yikes. Luckily, Jude was too involved in his pasta to even notice!

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  14. Seems to me there have been too many earthquakes of large magnitudes. Enough is enough! Hope the earth settles down soon and let's us all feel we are on solid ground.

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  15. Yeah... why do you live there! Move onto my street.

    just though I'd throw that out there. And actually, where you live is stunning and diverse and fabulous I'm sure. Don't think about the earthquakes. My brother in Vancouver says we have more worries with our pollution. It's always something.

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