Trembling Sleep

With my mind actively working the majority of the night, I woke easily on Friday morning. It was around 5:30. The walls of the house seemed to be trembling. Sleepy-eyed, I squinted out the window looking for any sign of thunder and lightning. It was still. I went to check if it was Gigi on the opposite side of the wall possibly moving stuff around. Nope, she was sleeping soundly and it would be way too early to be shaking the walls.

What could it have been? Could it have been an earthquake? In the Midwestern state of Michigan? Is it really possible? In just a few seconds, the trembling ended. I fell back asleep as easily as I had awoke.

On our drive to school, the radio commentators on Q101, a station in Illinois, were discussing people's reactions to earthquake. I didn't dream the trembles? But if the earthquake was in Illinois, how did I feel it in southwest Michigan?

In my second class, I had braved to ask my seatmates around me whether they may have felt any trembling in the early dawn. I was seeking confirmation that I wasn't crazy. Some girls residing in the dorm noted that they did feel some shaking, but just shrugged it off thinking it was their bunkmate shaking the bed. It was amusing because the girl's roommate argued saying she thought it was her roommate shaking the bed.

I opened up my laptop and went to CNN.com seeking more info on this mysterious trembling. It was on the front page headline. "Midwest quake felt far and wide". So I wasn't crazy after all. whew! The U.S. Geological Survey reports that people over 900 miles away felt the effects of the 5.2 magnitude earthquake that hit southern Illinois.

I was impressed to read the findings and thought I'd share it with you too. Although the earthquake wasn't of extremely high magnitude as they can be in California, it's pretty epic for the Midwest, considering that this is the land of tornados and hurricanes (east coast).

Check out the story for more details.