Mother Nature's Shakeup

I was sitting at work today writing about a potential tax increase for real estate partnerships -- not exactly earth-shattering stuff -- when the building groaned and my desk and computer screen started to wiggle from side to side. Huh, this must be an earthquake, I thought. And by the time I finished that thought, the earthquake was pretty much over.

Now, I was born and raised until I was almost 10 years old in coastal Alabama, right along the Gulf of Mexico where there are brutal hurricanes every couple of years. So, earthquakes don't bother me. In fact, I kind of like them. They're Mother Nature's way of reminding us that she can kick our butt whenever she wants, most of the time leaving us unharmed. Maybe it's her way of getting back at us for greenhouse gases and global warming. And when I'm writing about issues like taxes, it is a nice way to break up an otherwise dull day.

Granted, I have never been in a bad earthquake, the kind where things fall off of shelves and walls crumble. One time, I was interviewing the head of the city's real estate department when a temblor struck and he said, "Uh, I've got to go," and hung up. I suppose he had a few more important things to tackle besides whatever story I was working on at the time, like whether or not City Hall was still standing.

Another time, I was several floors up in high-rise building when it started to creak and sway. I'll admit, that was a little freaky. Now I know how a bee feels when the flower that he's sucking pollen from gets blown around by a strong breeze.

And, probably most memorably, the night before my wedding, I was lying in bed unable to sleep around 3 a.m. when it felt like somebody slipped a quarter in a non-existent machine on the nightstand. I thought the vibration might have been all in my head or the result of nervous shaking, which was a possibility. But when my maid of honor, who was sleeping in the hotel room's other queen bed, woke up the next morning, I said, "I think we might've had an earthquake last night." She laughed at me, also thinking it was just my nerves, but when we turned on the morning television news, the earthquake was all they could talk about.

I like to think the pre-wedding rumble was a good sign of some sort for my marriage. But as a co-worker pointed out to me today when I retold the same story, "Isn't the Earth supposed to move the night of your wedding, not the night before?"

I'm sure earthquakes freak a lot of people out, especially those who can remember the devastating temblor that shook Northridge, Calif., in 1994 and caused $20 billion in damage. But most of the time, it's a simple shake like the sensation of reaching the top of an incline on a roller coaster -- that "I hope this thing was recently inspected" kind of thrill.

I suppose life is kind of like that too. A little shakeup might seem a bit unpleasant at first, but maybe it was just what you needed to break up the monotony.