Earthquake!

4:47. Its there, permanently, in my mind. Its so strange how certain things can stick in our brain. Like, somehow, a rush of adrenaline is the coal that heats the mental branding iron. And the bigger the rush, the hotter the iron. And the hotter the iron, the clearer the memory. That's what happened to me this morning when a 5.0 earthquake woke me from a dead sleep. I was in the middle of some random dream about ice cream expiration dates when-wham! I'm shaken violently awake. Why I looked at the clock first I don't know, but there it is-4:47 in green glowing hues.

For me earthquakes happen in stages. Stages in which I decide what to do if the earthquake progresses to the next stage. This morning went something like this: Stage one: realize earthquake is happening(this is when I awoke). Stage two: wake Nate. Stage three: assume "the stance" in which I am ready to rescue my daughter from peril and occupy the nearest doorway. Stage four: (this is where I would spring into action) earthquake stops. As much as I wanted to, I didn't get Adelaide from her bed after the quake stopped. I definitely would have, had the quake progressed into stage four of my master plan, but it didn't and there was no need to wake my sleeping child just to make myself feel better. For all she knew the earthquake was just someone rocking her back to sleep-but I'm sure she didn't notice a thing.

The weird thing was that right before we got into bed I thought about what I would do in the event of an earthquake. Maybe that was why I was so clear minded and didn't jump ahead in "the stages" out of fear. And after all, like it or not, accept it or not, God is ultimately in control.