Confessions of an Earthquake Panicker

Well, as you have by now seen, DC experienced a 5.9 earthquake. It was actually my first earthquake! The last time that DC had an earthquake this big was in 1897.... so it took people off guard to say the least.

I have to preface this by saying that I've always considered myself pretty good under pressure and assumed that meant that I would be calm during a crisis. Boy was I wrong!

It had actually been a very nice day at work. I got into the office, had an early morning meeting, and spent the next few hours finishing up some outstanding projects. This week is the last for someone in our office, so we took an office field trip to have lunch at the Lebanese Taverna on Pentagon Row. We just got pack and sat down to our desks discussing how much we didn't want to work that afternoon.

A girl in the office stole me for a secret project. I went into the bosses' office with her and the boss and we closed the door. She needed me to help trim a picture so it would fit in a frame. So... I'm standing there with scissors in my hands when we feel a slight tremor.

The boss, my co-worker and I just stare at each other and ask "what was that." Before we could even answer, the whole building started to shake, more and more and more. That is when panic struck the whole office - what was happening? An earthquake? A bomb? Another plane like 9/11?

Then the panic really overtook me. I felt trapped. I was on the 5th floor and about a 7 minute walk from the nearest exit. Whatever was happening, I couldn't get out. We hid under desks until the shaking stopped. Then as we heard people in the halls yelling to evacuate, we locked up, grabbed our things and got out of the building as quickly as we could.

By the time we out of the building, we still had no idea what was going on. Once we got cell reception, we found out it was "just" an earthquake and relaxed a bit. Unfortunately, my nerves were completely shot and I wasn't even able to get a phone call/text out to find out if Caleb was okay. Since the thought of riding an underground metro (if it was even open) was not appealing, 3 of my co-workers and I loaded up in a car and headed out. They were very sweet to drop me off at my apartment before the traffic got TOO bad.

When I made it home, I was finally able to turn on the news and see what was going on and that it was over... hopefully. The quake had definitely hit our apartment as well. Several books, pictures, and all my plants had fallen over. Rhett didn't seem any worse for the wear, but Scarlett was hiding in her crate. I'm not sure if that was because she was scared of the shaking, or because she pooped on the floor and knew she was in trouble... oh well.

And, now Caleb is home. A co-worker was kind enough to drive him home as well. Well.. there you go. I survived my first earthquake, shed a few tears, and now know that I crumble under the pressure of natural disasters : )

Until next time, this is earthquake panicker signing off.