The earth moved.

I felt the earth move. No, I mean I really did...twice. That is because two years ago my husband dragged us across the the map to earthquake country, and I finally experienced my first quake.

In all honesty it was totally uneventful, in fact when the first one hit, it took me a minute to realize what had happened. I was parking the car in front of Zack's school at pick up time. I felt a couple strange bumps, and worried at first that I may have accidentally run over a neighborhood pet. It wasn't until I got out of the vehicle and started talking to some of the other parents that I realized we had just experienced a real-life earthquake.

I was surprised but none of the kids seemed to be frightened, even though they had been herded out onto the playground. We went on about our day as usual. Later that evening the second one hit, a light jolt of the baker's rack in the kitchen is how we knew.

No big deal right?

Right.

Except.

Except that it got me thinking. Earthquakes are entirely unpredictable. I grew up in the Midwest, the land of tornadoes. Tornadoes can be scary, but at least you can usually see them coming. The sky grows dark. Thunder, lightening. Predictable. But an earthquake? Sunny 75 degrees, or rainy and cold-BAM an earthquake can hit. Bam! What do you do? There is no time. Bam! Hopefully your not on a bridge. That falls.

So what can you do? Buy an earthquake kit. I went to Target today and purchased Zachary a kit as requested by his school. 2 juice boxes, 2 cans of tuna, a package of tissues, a flashlight, fruit leather, granola bars, a pair of socks. Seriously? That was the list. An earthquake hits that is big enough to keep me from son, and a pair of socks and two cans of juice are going to be enough?

I feel a bit helpless. The world is bigger than us. There are dangers we cannot control.

Duh.