I had been awake for about a half hour early Friday morning trying to get back to sleep, when just after 5:30 I heard a slight vibrating noise, something like when the washing machine loses it's balance and the agitation causes certain things in the house to rattle. As I laid quietly next to Dennis I thought it felt like the house was actually shaking. I adjusted my head on the pillow several times, thinking it was my own body doing weird things in the early hours of the morning, but, no, it had to be the house.
"Honey?" No answer.
"Honey, it feels like the house is moving." Still no answer.
"Honey?"
Finally a drowzy "What?"
"It feels like the house is shaking. Do you feel that?"
I can't even remember what he said, but we both drifted back to sleep. I assumed some big rig of sorts had passed by on 152nd, it's rumble reverberating throughout the house for a few seconds.
We had plans to drive to Cadillac that day to visit Dennis' folks. We ended up spending the entire time in the ER where Mom Jackson was having tests for some reoccurring symptoms that had manifested that morning (all tests came back clear). In the midst of the day we never heard what was making the front page news all across the Midwest.
I forgot about the incident until we were having a late dinner with some friends last night and somebody said, "Did you hear about the earthquake this morning?" It was then that we discovered that I wasn't delusional... the rattling noise and the shaking that had prompted our early morning conversation was a distant earthquake - a magnitude of 5.2 that rattled skyscrapers in Chicago!
We want the house to move quickly in this slow moving market, but an earthquake isn't our idea of a quick move.
4 comments:
Well, it is one way to get a house moving. Now if it would only shake a buyer. You have such a sense of humor. I love seeing that side of you as I read your blogs. Please don't stop writing them after you move.
Wasn't that something? I was in the loft bedroom of the motel room we had in Grand Rapids, and was also awake and trying to fall back asleep at 5:36, like you. I thought it was a semi truck, but then it lasted for so long I had the fleeting foggy thought that maybe this was what an earthquake feels like. Mom felt it too and thought it was a garbage truck. We were both surprised in the morning when we turned on the news. :)
As for the writer's festival, I'd love to share some take-aways! Maybe we can have coffee sometime.
I am proud to say I heard it too! I had just finished feeding Audrey and thought Dave was kicking his feet in the bed. A special "treat" for those of us who had to be awake at that hour!
Debbie
Greta - I'll definitely keep posting!
Jen - Yes, let's do coffee. Can't wait to hear what you learned.
Debbie - I'm not sure that I want to call the after shock of an earthquake a "treat," but I know what you mean. I would have never guessed that I'd actually have a very small taste of what an earthquake feels like.
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