What’s shakin’?

I used to think that there were some things that just weren’t, well, real.

Writer’s block, for example.  Nope.  It never happened to me, I thought.  PMS?  Well, ask my husband and son about that one.  Fibromyalgia?  Enough said.

But really, the idea of earthquakes in the Washington DC Metropolitan area?  No way!!

But check the news — we had one today.  In fact, it was the second earthquake I’ve experienced, and they’ve both been here!  Well, whatddya know.

My first earthquake happened before my morning alarm went off, well before I’d had my first cuppa.  So I don’t remember too much about it.

But today’s earthquake happened when I was wide awake.  And I can be eloquent about it:  it felt weird.

Yup, today, I felt the earth move under my feet.  I stepped under the doorjam and looked out the window, expecting the worst.  I saw the earth move under Washington!  But, thank God, the sky didn’t follow the song and come-a-tumblin’- down.  In fact, nothing tumbled.  Nothing at all.  Thank you and Yahoo to the building inspectors and the regulators who set standards for building construction in the U.S. – you guys are awesome!!!  Because with a few very minor problems, Washington stands.  Chalk up another one for the regulators who protect us all!

Well, of course all the buildings are empty now, so it really doesn’t matter.  They were evacuated.  You see, regardless of the fact that almost nothing happened, government buildings were emptied.  They sent folks home.  You would have thought there were snow flurries!

That, of course, meant that then everyone who works in Metro DC sat in their cars or on the subway, where they would be oh so safe in the event of a HUGE aftershock. 

You know, they even grounded the airplanes.  Ummmmmm…..  When something is happening on the ground don’t you want machines capable of getting off of the ground to be, well, off the ground.  DUH!!!

There was one casualty, though.  When I got home my dog, Cooper, was clearly traumatized.  You’d have thought that someone had vacuumed.  But no, next to him on the rug was debris.  Our home had clearly been damaged by the earthquake, and Cooper was the worse for it — two sports plaques belonging to my son Jacob had been violently shaken to the floor, where they will remain as a memorial to the Earthquake of 2011.  Or until someone else picks them up.

But when I saw the pandemonium that came along with the earthquake, I decided to help.

So can somebody please hand over the DC Metro Area’s “Panic Button” – I think that whoever has it now is trigger happy.