All Shook Up

Yesterday around 2:00 I was at work in the salon where I’m employed, sitting at the front desk when I felt someone quite large in the offices above us discovered they still had half a Twinkie left. Apparently this made them overjoyed because they jumped so hard I felt the ground beneath me shake. I looked at my co-worker/friend Zalina and we both question the movement. She then seemed delighted herself as she informed me, “It’s earthquake! Look at window shaking!” She’s from Uzbekistan and was excited because this was the first occurrence with an earthquake she’s had in years and I guess it gave her a feeling of nostalgia. She also forgets to use grammatical articles when speaking and her sentences can be a bit short. I don’t remember much from when I was in elementary school and they showed everyone instructional videos on what to do when disaster strikes but I’m pretty sure freezing up with fear was not on the list. I really didn’t know what to do. Luckily someone made a run for the door and I followed suit, probably shoving them out of the way once the door opened and we made it safely outside. Good thing we did too- there were some bottles of shampoo and conditioner that thrashed to the floor and who knows the damage it could have caused had someone been standing right beneath them, deliberately trying to get hit.

I’ve learned from this experience that my mind does not adapt well to sudden unexpected situations. This is a problem because I was so sure that the building was going to come crumbling down, crushing me and all I could do was stand there and try to piece things together as time passed. I don't care how minor things were I was scared as shi*t. Granted, the east coast is the laughing stock around the water cooler to the rest of the country (we apologize that there were no fatalities so we could be taken seriously) but in the midst of everything I didn’t care if I overreacted with panic and fear. I really had no idea what was taking place and how horrific things could get, so in doubt I did what I do best which is think of the worst possible scenario. Demons being summoned from Hell to steal my unborn childs soul? Doesn't seem so far-fetched in my mind.

Complete mayhem.