The rolling land.

A normal evening. Sitting at the dinner table. Waiting for the cookies to cook. Then the unusual occurred. I heard a noise. I thought my eyes were playing tricks. Maybe my Dr. Pepper addiction finally caused permanent brain distress, but I swear to you the house moved. It swayed. I actually saw the walls move.

No, I am not insane and my Dr. Pepper addiction has not caused permanent damage. The house actually shook. What I thought at first was my imagination was in fact a tremor from a 5.6 earthquake that originated in Southern San Francisco and San Jose area. The shock wave from the land plates shifting rolled across the land over a hundred miles to my home.

I was told that I would probably not ever experience an earthquake in Modesto since we are located far enough away from the fault lines to ever feel the shock, but those words became mute tonight as I sat in the kitchen chair, being rocked back and forth as I wondered what was wrong with my eyes. And I wonder what will be expected when a higher earthquake hits the western seaboard. The prediction is a major earthquake to hit the San Francisco coast along the San Andreas fault, an earthquake that may rival the 1906 and 1989 earthquakes.

It was a surreal experience, going about my evening with my activities then suddenly having myself rock back and forth by nature. At first I did not exactly know what happened. I thought something fell over since I heard a loud noise but it did not make sense for the house to roll like it did. But after awhile, the news reported what we all expected. I survived my first earthquake.