California Rocks My World - Literally

So obviously, yesterday was a rough day. I was so bothered with everything that I didn't even feel tired enough to attempt sleep until 2am. Once I did lay down I actually fell asleep quickly. However, a peaceful night's rest was not meant to be. Not long later I woke up to the sound of lamps and miscellaneous desk items rattling, and the floor and my bed shaking up and down. I'll admit, I was confused. I tried to think of the reasons why such motion would be happening while I rolled over and looked at the clock on my phone. 4:04am. The neighbors couldn't make the apartment floor jump like that and there is no highway close enough to be disturbed by semi-trucks trying to gain mileage while the roads are clear. Wait a minute (the light bulb above my head clicked on), I live in California now - land of earthquakes.

REALLY?? I wasn't sure if I was thinking straight, but it freaked me out anyway - I mean, with all the publicity on the news about earthquakes lately I immediately decided that the fastest and probably the safest way out of the apartment was through the sliding glass door on to the back porch. But I did hesitate; there's no exit off of the porch (by the way - the shaking had stopped by now). I was proud of my next move. Without hardly a thought I was on my knees on my bed and praying for safety and calmness, and for the ability to follow the Lord's guidance in case I needed to get out of the building. But still, I needed to know for sure what I had felt.

On went my bedside lamp and I bee-lined for my laptop. Yep. A quick search confirmed that LA had experienced a 4.4 earthquake at 4:04am. So, since my heart wouldn't stop pounding for the next 40 minutes I browsed the USGS website looking at maps and forecasts, earthquake records and definitions of terms.

Welcome to California.