Careful What You Wish For

Remember that old adage that goes a little something like "be careful what you wish for." Heed it. Yesterday I was doing what I do best, contemplating my life with a healthy dose of introspection. I was also thinking about my blog, naturally, yet I found myself uninspired with the amount of exciting posts, or lack thereof. It's fine. So I remember thinking, "Dude, I wish something really exciting would happen." Fail. At precisely 4:27 PM that afternoon, something exciting did in fact happen. It's called an earthquake. A 6.-freaking-5 earthquake. I was making rice for our Cafe Rio pork salads, when all of the sudden, there was a very loud unnatural sound. It sounded like a washer that gets a little carried away while on spin cycle. "What the eff?" I thought to myself. Then I looked around the corner into my living room. Things were starting to shake. "What the-" Then it dawned on me. "Oh snap. This is an earthquake." That's when all of that elementary school earthquake drill preparation gets put to good use. I automatically headed towards the nearest doorway and held on. It was the most bizarre and unsettling feeling watching the clock, the vase and other trinkets fall off of my mantle and smash to pieces. It was so weird to have everything in sight shake uncontrollably. The pictures became skewed, and the candles began to rattle off of the coffee table. Then suddenly, it all stopped. My dad told us to all get outside, but there were power lines falling, and sparks flying, so we booked it right back inside.

"Was that an earthquake?" My little sister asked. Um, I'm going to have to go with a yes on that one, chica. The moment after the earthquake was one of the most surreal moments of my life. Luckily, I was able to stay calm. (Which was an act of God because remember how bad weather/natural disasters are my biggest fear? Pretty sure earthquake falls under that category.) I picked up my cat who was possibly more freaked than I was, and held onto my sister- then we bonded. Nothing like a natural disaster to help you become a better stronger family. Isn't it about time? I looked into the kitchen, and my heart sank. Our precious pork for the salad was now all over the floor. Not gonna lie, that was the worst part of the whole thing. I was pissed. I really wanted that salad.

We started cleaning up, letting family know we were okay, and trying to salvage our dinner. My dad is on the fire department, so he booked it to go help the town and get the 411 on what happened. Apparently the epicenter was 22 miles from my lovely little town of Ferndale. Eureka and Ferndale were probably hit the worst, and there was a great deal of damage to both cities. Meanwhile, Will called home and told us that there was a possibility of a Tsunami warning. Awesome sauce. I love living right next to the coast. That's when I started to freak. The potential of having two natural disasters happen in the same day was enough to accelerate my heart rate. That and I was starving, which anyone who knows me will attest is not a pleasant thing, and may or may not make me not the best version of myself. So, trying to maintain some semblance of peace and calm, I get an extra set of clothes together and my trusty Book of Mormon, in case we would have to evacuate. Then I prayed my guts out. It's fine. Luckily we had power, so we were able to check the radio, which delivered sweet blessed relief: there was no tsunami warning in place. They also informed us that we had just experienced a 6.5 earthquake. That's when I felt too legit to quit. I had survived my first earthquake, and stayed calm, thank you very much.

Luckily there weren't too many aftershocks, and they were small enough that you could barely feel them. There were a few that would happen right after another, and they would get bigger. That was a little freaky. I looked around the room and everyone had the same expression as if to say, "Please bless that it doesn't get worse." Luckily it didn't. The whole concept of going to sleep and waking up to a 6.4 or 6.6 aftershock was...super great. That was highly terrifying, and once again I prayed my guts out. God must love me or something, because there were only some small tremors, nothing too bad.

So I was super brave, and deserve mad props...or something. But I also think that I have had my fair share of earthquakes for a while, and would like to be done. And next time you wish something more exciting would happen, be warned. It could come in the form of the shifting of tectonic plates. God be with you. Thank you, and goodnight.