Never a dull moment around here, that's for sure! This week we are dealing with not one but two natural disasters, one of which is in progress. Let's take them one at a time, shall we?
On Tuesday, Luke, Will and I were in our first earthquake. David, who grew up in California, has many more under his belt. But it was all new to me. It was the new babysitter's first day on the job. About ten till two, I was upstairs in the office sitting at my desk. Out of nowhere, everything started shaking. My first thought was that it was an earthquake, but it was just mild enough that I would not have been surprised to find out that it had actually been something like a very low-flying plane or maybe heavy machinery nearby. Still, I suspected an earthquake, so when it was over I stood up to come downstairs to check on the kids, who were with the babysitter. By the time I got to the top of the stairs, though, everything started shaking much more intensely. I could see the walls moving and the chandelier near the bottom of the stairs was swaying back and forth. I suppose I was supposed to take cover or stand in a doorway or something, but I was so worried about getting to the kids I ended up coming down the stairs during the worst of the shaking. When I was at the bottom of the stairs I could hear glassware falling off the shelf in the dining room. I made it to the living room just as the shaking stopped and the babysitter was there with both the kids. She didn't know what was going on. I grabbed Luke and asked her to take Will. For a brief second, I had us in the doorway. I know little about earthquakes (I've never thought of myself as living in an earthquake-prone area) so the only thing I could think of was that we were supposed to stand in the doorway. It didn't take me long to come to my senses and realize that the shaking had stopped and we could probably just go outside. So we headed out to the front yard. Luckily everyone was wearing shoes!
At the time, it felt like two distinct quakes- a smaller foreshock and then a much larger quake. Apparently, though, it was all one continuous quake of varying intensity, depending on which part of the "wave" was hitting us at the time. When we were outside, though, we were waiting for more since it felt like we'd had two very close together. Neighbors quickly congregated and everyone was in shock. People who have lived here their whole lives don't remember any earthquakes, big or small. There was no cell service so I couldn't call David but texting worked just fine. Thank goodness for texting! Cell phones were down for a few hours but we could text the whole time. Anyway, his building on Andrews was evacuated, then cleared for re-entry about an hour later. It was close enough to the end of the work day that everyone just went home early.
We didn't end up with any damage other than some things falling off shelves. You may have seen on the news that the Washington Monument and the National Cathedral were damaged. We were about 100 miles from the epicenter so we got what felt like a pretty good jolt. 5.8 is not much for west coast folks but it's big enough for me. People and buildings here just aren't prepared for earthquakes.
Thankfully, neither kid had any idea anything had happened. Luke slept the entire time. And Will either didn't notice the shaking or didn't care. The babysitter had him watching The Wiggles and he didn't want to leave the house. Some of our neighbors' older children have had some anxiety problems after the earthquake. Will was just cool as a cucumber. I didn't feel too anxious immediately afterwards, but I was surprised at how jumpy I was for the next day or so. Every little rumble I thought was another earthquake. Tuesday night I was just about asleep and I jolted awake thinking we were having another quake. It turned out to just be David shaking the bed as he was rolling over. Ironically, the next night we did have a sizeable aftershock in the middle of the night and we all slept right through it.
The day after the earthquake we started focusing on preparing for Hurricane Irene. At least we could see this one coming! If we lose power, we lose water as well, so we'll have some challenges with two little kids. I was especially nervous about having plenty of clean water for Luke's bottles. With the luxury of several days' warning, we stocked up with plenty of food, water, flashlights, batteries, etc. We managed to wedge both of the cars into the garage and we cleared everything off the deck. Our basement is stocked and ready in case we have to head down there. We're about as prepared as we could be. Now we just have to wait it out.
At the moment, we're getting some heavy rain and wind from the outer bands. The worst of it is supposed to be coming through this evening until tomorrow afternoon. Then we should be in the clear. We are far enough inland that we're not too worried about flooding. Plus our house is sort of up on a hill. The big concern for us is how long we could be without power. We can make it several days but even a short amount of time will be a challenge. We're praying for a short outage.
In non-natural disaster news, Will seems to be settling in well. He has taken good naps four out of five weekdays this week. The only day he didn't nap was when we had a little earthquake issue right at nap time. We've been going for long walks in the mornings and then either running errands or going to the park. We've had lots of outdoor time and that seems to help him nap later. He's still getting used to the babysitter. He was pretty clingy to me on Thursday while she was here but that may take some time.
Luke is doing well too. We are trying to get him to nap in his crib and have had a little success. He still prefers being held. He smiles a lot and is generally good-natured.
Next weekend David has a four-day weekend so we're looking forward to (hopefully) some relaxing family time with no disasters or drama! Hopefully we'll have power!
No comments:
Post a Comment