Today is the seven-year anniversary of a very big day in these parts.
Not only is it the anniversary of the day I plucked my 2-year-old son off the big boy potty without his diaper and ran out the front door, fearing potty-training failure, but it is also the anniversary of the day a 6.8 earthquake rocked our area.
The Nisqually Quake wasn't that bad, despite it's magnitude, because it's origin was more than 30 miles beneath the surface, but it's effects still linger with me to this day.
It was in the early morning and McRae was off at preschool. Wyatt and I were planning on spending the morning working on the task at hand, potty training. He was such a willing participant, and began to show the signs that he was ready much earlier than his brother.
So there we were, in the bathroom of our first home when the shaking began. I will forever be grateful that the main bathroom of our little, 1,200 sq. foot first home was within sight of the front door, because that was where I was headed.
Diaper?
Forget about it. I hoisted Wyatt's pants up and ran with the speed of a cheetah for the front door.
The shaking continued and the air was odd.
I clutched my baby and made it to the end of our driveway, not sure if it was the earth that was still moving or me. And then I looked a few houses over at my neighbor, whom I hardly knew except I knew that his wife worked days and he was sometimes home with their baby.
He was holding his son, too.
We stood there, motionless in the aftermath for many minutes, not saying a word.
When we were sure it was over, we spoke.
"Well, that was interesting," he said.
"It certainly was," I answered.
"Are you okay?"
"I think so," I replied, suddenly realizing the urgent need to go get McRae from preschool, to have him with me, to know that he was okay.
Brett was working construction at the time and was in a lumber shop on an island when the quake hit. When I called him, frantic and wanting him home as soon as possible, he didn't understand why.
Why? Are you kidding me, we just had a serious earthquake and I am scared and I need you home!
He finally did come home and see the news. Then, he got it.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize . . . "
And there we sat, holding our little boys and watching the news reports. Lucky.
14 comments:
Lucky indeed.
Oh my gosh!
And yes, they are Denby ;-) LOL.
Oh I know this feeling so well...I had a similar one, on the day I will not mention in September 6.5 years ago. The need to just be together in the face of something so overwhelmingly frightening and out of my control.
Sigh.
But on a much happier note, it is Friday. I hope you have a great weekend :)
Heidi
Well that will sure put a damper on potty training I suppose. We don't really get earthquakes here, just those dang twisters.
Yikes, twisters are scary too Valarie!
And actually, he was the easiest potty trainer by far . . . I thought he'd be scarred for life!
Thanks guys! :)
OH how scary. My parnets were in the Great Alaska earthquake which was 9.5 and their stories are so scary. I couldn't imagine have do go through what you did or what they did. Even though you guys are safe...situations like that you can't help but think of the 'what ifs'
That sounds really scary! I'm not even sure I'd know what to do. Give me a hurricane or tornado and I'm good though.
Your post made me remember this: When my oldest was about 6 months old, there was an earthquake in Virginia. I was living in Wake Forest NC and we could feel it there...just barely. I was in my daughter's room changing her and I noticed the mobile shaking slightly. I grabbed her up and thought "Is THIS and earthquake?" I stood in the doorway upstairs. (I lived, pretty much in the middle of a field. That probably would have been a better place to go. Hindsight!)
Anyway, I had to check the news to make sure it really was an earthquake. It was quite a novel experience.
Well that was a really scarey day. Can completely understand why you'd remember it so clearly.
Did your meme! Just so ya know.
Wow, very scary stuff. I would freak out in that situation completely. Vancouver is on a fault line and we are due for the big one any day now.
Lisa -- I'm going to check that out soon! Yeah!
Huckdoll -- We're just south of you, near Seattle. We're in the same dang boat, I'm afraid.
Oooo... that would be so scary. We have nasty hurricanes in my neck of the woods, but we have a good week's worth of notice.
blog hopping - etcetera
Wow Carrie
What a nightmare... I know what you mean about the air feeling odd after a quake. There is a stillness that is unnerving. Great post though.
Thanks for your un-ending support for me too.
That would be scary! There was an earthquake here a few years ago and guys were in the silo.
They thought the silo was falling!
OH how I remember that day. It was hella scary! I was DT Seattle (last place you'd want to be in an earthquake they say) on floor 8 of my 16 fl office building. It was built on rollers in case of an earthquake, but we really swayed. hard. AND we all jumped under our desks. I actually crawled over to my friend Karen's desk b/c I didn't want to die alone. Guess where my husband was? We had just started dating and he was under the viaduct in his little meter maid scooter at the time. LAWD! Okay, that's the last place you'd want to be!!!!!
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