Doin’ a little shakin’

So the babe and I made it safely to Southern California. However, our departure day was not without incident. I was on the phone with my mother (Monday morning), a couple of hours before leaving for the airport, finalizing plans for her to pick us up at the airport, etc., when all of a sudden I realized our whole building was moving. Having grown up in Southern California, I am quite accustomed to this sort of occurence, and so was not all that concerned, especially since the shaking that we were experiencing was more of a gentle rolling, and not anything hard and jerky. However, the shaking went on and on and on. We all finally decided to get in doorways, just because it just seemed to keep going. I mentioned that I am pretty accustomed to earthquakes, however my sister-in-law was visiting, and she was definitely NOT accustomed to earthquakes. In fact, this was her FIRST earthquake ever. At least she experienced a gentle one, and not one of the scarier jerky ones. My mother, who I was on the phone with, pointed out that although she has also experienced many earthquakes, this quake was a first for her as well, because this was the first time she had been on the phone with someone experiencing a quake!

Although our exerience was mild, Niigata prefecture was hit very hard. It makes me grateful to be safe and sound, especially when so much could go wrong. My heart goes out to those affected by this quake.