Shake, Rattle and Roll...

Tuesday's earthquake was unexpected and terrifying...here's the message I sent to my family in Kansas (because I kept receiving texts asking if I was okay...and I was too lazy to respond one by one).

When I got to work this morning I was having one of those days where nothing could get any worse. I had terrible cramps (sorry boys!)…like the kind that make you want to go back to bed until tomorrow…I had to go buy a thermacare heating patch and take three ibuprofen to give me any relief at all. Plus I’ve been sore from running and attempting to learn how to golf (i’m awful!) …. In short, it was one of those days where NOTHING could make the day worse…..

…..except maybe a 5.8 scale Earthquake….

The streets were lined with hundreds of people for about 40 minutes following the shock (think back to recess…when the bell rang and everyone ran outside…now multiply that by every building in the entire city). Some people in Virginia (closer to the epicenter of the quake) were stuck outside until later than 4:15pm… two hours after the initial shock. A friend of mine said they’re still feeling aftershocks.

We felt the first rumbles at 2pm, which were for some reason accompanied by a loud bang..then everyone said “what is that….what’s going on?” You’re probably making fun of us this point for not thinking that it was obviously an earthquake… but because of the industry we’re in (Foreign Policy), it’s easy for the first thought to be that a bomb has gone off….and believe me…those were my first, second and third thoughts. One of our scholars pulled me into a door-well because I was just sort of floating around. The major shakes lasted for about 20-30 seconds.

A few colleagues were in an elevator during the quake. They said they didn’t realize it was an earthquake and thought the elevator was simply breaking (it flung back and forth, hitting the side of the shaft). SO SCARY!

Above all else, I learned a few things today….

1) Even as old as I am, all I wanted was my mommy. I called her immediately and got disconnected.

2) Office buildings should only be two stories tall…being on the 5th floor is great for a view, terrible when the earth moves. I can't imagine how it must feel on the 20th or 30th floor of a building in California. Eeek!

3) There is absolutely nothing better than friends and family. All of my friends in DC were sending each other texts (which didn’t come through until a few hours later) and emails (which fortunately came through on my phone) asking if everyone was alright.

4) The Federal Government will take any excuse to close….Congress let out all of their employees at 2:30pm as a result of the quakes.

5) I think I’ll take the stairs from now on….