Earthquake

Yesterday night I experienced something I have never experienced in my entire life.  An EARTHQUAKE!  Actually, two of them occurred yesterday, but I only was awake for one of them.  The first was at 2:30 in the morning and registered at a 4.7 on the Richter Scale.  No one in my family woke up, but many people I know did wake up from the subtle shaking.  Although I didn't wake up, I did have a strange dream. In my dream, I was watching my kids play on a large piece of playground equipment only to see that playground equipment slowly collapse and fall completely over.  I was panicked because I couldn't find my kids in the rubble.  Did the earthquake effect my dream subconsciously?  Who knows?

The second quake occurred at 11:00 yesterday night.  Mike and I were at our friends' house when a sound like thunder filled the room, and the floor literally began to shake.  All four of us stood up and said, "Earthquake!"  Then we started running around like crazy people.  Do we go outside?  Stay inside?  Sit under a doorway?  What's the protocol for an earthquake?  The shaking lasted for a full minute, and when it ended all the light fixtures in our friends' home were still swaying.  We turned on the news and soon learned that it was a 5.6!  The largest earthquake in Oklahoma history!

As Okies we are totally used to things like tornadoes, extreme heat, drought, and ice storms.  Californians are the ones who are prepared for earthquakes, not us!  I'm sure the 5.6 we experienced last night was nothing compared to what they deal with on the west coast on a more regular basis.  But for us, it was something totally new.  So I think we all deserved a freak out moment.  My facebook news feed was jam packed with earthquake comments last night and all day today.  It definitely got us all talking around here!

What about you? Have you ever been through an earthquake?