5.1

It was a typical Friday night for us. Marcus had been fast asleep for just over an hour and Scott and I were playing catch-up on our DVR. 

Shortly after 9:00 p.m. the house started swaying. At first I had no idea what was going on. I looked at Scott fearfully, and he said out loud what I had been thinking, "Earthquake!"

We both jumped up from our seats. Panicked, I asked, "What do I do? Where do we go? What about Marcus?!" 

Scott rushed upstairs to collect Marcus and shouted for me to stand in a doorway. Which is exactly what I did. 

For roughly 20 seconds - possibly the longest seconds of my life - our  house continued to sway. It felt as if we were in the bottom of a boat, slowly shifting from side to side. 

Seeing our house move in such a way was so bizarre. I can't accurately describe how wobbly the walls looked, or how everything kind of felt like something you would experience in on of those fun houses where the mirrors distort everything. 

After the slow tremor stopped we both sat, kind of in a daze, with Marcus fast asleep, unaware of any of the events that had taken place. 

Even after the shaking stopped, it was like stepping off a ship… My equilibrium was rattled, and things seemed to be moving even after the earth had stopped shifting. 

In the four years I've lived here I have said I've always wanted to feel an earthquake. Well, Friday night I sure did. A 5.1 magnitude struck, which is considered a moderate quake. Aside from bottles and cans falling from store shelves, and one landslide that closed a road, no major damage, injury or death occurred. 

Now that I can check that off my 'life's to-do list' I can say with full certainty that I would be completely fine if I never felt the earth shake like that again.