Early morning email subject line read CNN teaser: Chicago Earthquake
Figured it was a joke kind of thing. Then, coincidentally, got an email five minutes later from my wife who is in Chicago on business with a subject line that read: I think we had an earthquake.
Sure, enough!!! She said she was awoken around 430am and the bed was shaking and heard the sound an old tv makes when you move it across it's stand, kind of a screeching noisea s the tv in her hotel room was moving across the piece of furniture it was on.
She said.....it was wierd and then asked if I had eveer been in an earthquake? How soon she forgets....we were living in the Seattle area when the 7.8 hit 30 miles deep about an hour south of Seattle. It was mid morning and I was home with our lil guy, then around 2 yrs. of age.
He was around the corner in another room when the walls started to shake. I thought to myself.....what on earth could be doing to cause this? Before I could get up to see what he might be into....all hell broke loose and the house and family room walls started jumping up and down like a pogo stick. Then I knew I was in my very first earthquake. I rushed into the other room to scoop him up and get us into a doorway. I had him in my arms and sought refuge in a doorway as the shaking continued. The 2 chandeliers in sight were swaying back and forth. A very LOUD sound of glass shattering from back in the room where I'd just rescued him from.
I wa freaking out big time but did my best not to let him sense it. I wasn't sure to stay put in the doorway or dash for the front door to the safety of the front yard. The shaking lasted less than a minute and everything got quiet except for the chandeliers which were in a pendulum motion which allowed them to continue moving back and forth for a minute or two more.
Finally decided we would GET OUT OF THE HOUSE and exited to a strange calm in the streets as neighboors poured out into the street all with looks of shock and dismay at what had just happened. Some neighbors saw the paved blacktop of our street acutally rolling in wave like motion.
My wife was away on business (actually here in the Philly region) when it hit and of course all she could do was offer advice and try to calm me down by phone and from afar. Phone lies were tied up for awhile so it was difficult for her to call the house and as i recall it was a few hours before we could make contact. I wasn't crazy about going back into the house anytime soon for fear of aftershocks. Really strange feeling to be afraid of going into your own house.
Earthquakes are rare up Seattle way. We had talked a little about Earthquake insurance with our realtor and she said they were rare and some folks buy it and some don't bother. The glass that shattered was not a window as I had assumed but a large framed with glass picture that simply tipped over from it's propped up position (to be hung later) and into our oversized tub. Shattered in a million pieces.....and that, luckily, was the extent of damage in our home.
Hope you guys out Chicago way are all okay and will share stories of the earthquake that struck this morning....4.18.08 ~ If ya get a minute and can share some of the experience here....please do.
I hear it was felt as far south as Georgia. 
Anyone else have an earthquake tale to tell? This one or any others.
