Shaken like a martini, minus the buzz...

In the Midwest where I grew up, we did things called, “tornado drills,” in school. This was a time, during tornado season, where a very ghastly alarm would go off, teachers would herd our little troubled and frightened souls into the hallways, and we would lurch our bodies onto the floor into an almost Yoga-like position with our hands over our heads to protect ourselves in case the ceiling were to blow off and cave in.

Once in a blue moon, the sky would become ominous and yes, there would be real tornado sirens going off in the distance we would have to, in panic-mode, run to the halls and do this strange, protective position.

While lying with your head jutted against the wall, all sorts of worries would come into my head. “Is my mom okay??” “Will I ever see my dad or siblings ever again?” “Will it be like the Wizard of Oz??” Since I was brought up in worst-case scenario mode, these dismal thoughts would cloud my 4th graders brain.

Having been awoken last night by the Man during the 4.5 earthquake (which was only a few miles west of our home) I could have kept sleeping, but he was ready to run and get into position with a look of …terror. I use this word mildly, but I realized that my “tornado drills” were just that…drills. Even in some of the creepiest storms I have witnessed, there might have been masses of sky swirling that were actually small tornados, but the touchdowns were always in the same areas, far from the house I grew up in, and not so ironically called, “tornado alley.”

But earthquakes are a whole other monster. There are no real drills. There are no signs due to weather, time of day, time of year or anything else. It just happens when it happens. Some people like to say there is “earthquake weather,” but that is just a myth. It just happens because rifts in the ground want to move. Or there is some uneasy tug from the Universe. Whatever the reasons, I can’t help but feel for my Man and my Bunnie who grew up in the very edgy headspace and have both endured real life disturbances due to these quakes.

Why even my own brother and his wife were on one of the MAIN streets during the 1994 quake and had their apartment totaled.

No rhyme. No reason. No warnings..just shakes, rattles and rolls. And sometimes, disaster.