Women are like lionesses at the gate of the home. . . . She guards that gate, and things matter to that family if they matter to her. . . . Sisters, you are each like the lioness at the gate. This means that there has to be some prioritizing. I was taught years ago that when our priorities are out of order, we lose power. If we need power and influence to carry out our mission, then our priorities have to be straight.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Can I blame it on the Earthquake?

My mom's coming into town today. Think she'll believe all this was caused by the quake that rocked the East coast this afternoon?


Funny thing is, I didn't even know we had experienced any kind of a quake. I was on the phone with my sister when my next-door neighbor called. She never calls. So I figured I'd click over.

"Did you just feel your house shaking?"

"Um, no. Why? Did you feel your house shaking?"

She went on to explain that her son, who was home alone, just called her to tell her he was scared because the house was shaking.

WHAT?!?

I reassured her it was nothing serious. I mean, I hadn't felt a thing! I told her I'd go check on him, just to be safe.

Then my across-the-street neighbor is making her way over toward my house, all hysterical.

"Are you guys OK? Are the kids scared? I mean, I'm scared!"

I must have still looked confused because she added, "Wasn't your house just shaking?"

What is going on here?! Now I'm feeling like there might be something wrong with me, that I can't feel shaking that everyone else can feel.

Finally, Michael called to make sure I was OK. Down at work, the building shook so hard that he bounced in his chair and things rattled on the walls.

I looked around me. From the sorry state of things, maybe the house did shake. That's a much better explanation than the reality that my kids are actually monkeys.

I finally turned on the news to discover that yes, in fact, we did experience the tremors of the quake in Virginia. Now worried that another one might be coming, I decide to get myself and the kids mentally prepared. But what is it that you're supposed to do in an earthquake again?

I rack my brain for all of our "drills" we used to do in school. I'm pretty sure we don't line up and take roll outside to make sure everyone made it out. I also think I remember something about doorways and the "turtle position." I try to remember if I've seen any movies lately that show people surviving earthquakes, since movies have the most realistic portrayals of what to do in emergency situations. I drew a blank.

So I finally decide to look it up online. According to the FEMA website, you're supposed to get under a desk or table and tuck into the turtle position. Stay away from windows and things that can fall down off of walls, and do not leave the building to go outside. Ironically, this is what EVERYONE does - and did today. People pouring out of buildings from New York all the way down to North Carolina. So who's right? FEMA? Or our instincts?

I decide that we'll practice running into the downstairs bathroom (it's also our room for tornados) and getting into the turtle position. I try to make a game out of it. It still scared Shaelyn. She was crying as we ran as fast as we could, pretended to be turtles, and stayed really still. She was telling me that she didn't want the ground to shake, that she didn't want things to fall on her, that she didn't want her body to get broken. How does she even know all that? All I had said was, "If the house starts shaking, here's what we're going to do."

Luckily, we never had to turn our drills into action.

But I just have to know, am I the only one who didn't feel the quake this afternoon?

And if your house was shaking today, does it now look like mine?