Was that an earthquake?!?!?!

Yes, Yes, it was an earthquake! Here in Illinois, at approximately 4:40am this morning, we had a 5.2 magnitude earthquake. I didn't realize what was going on at first. I was in such a deep sleep (thank you vicodin:) that I thought my husband was getting out of bed when I first felt it shaking. That changed quickly however when the pictures on the walls started to rattle and the cat and the kids came running into the bedroom. It lasted for around 35-45 seconds, but felt like an eternity. Nothing like what happens in California, but still scary to say the least.

It started shaking again about an hour ago (9:30am), but didn't last as long, ten seconds maybe, and didn't produce the same rattling and shaking feeling. I was on the phone at the time though and the person I was talking with said she could feel it too, but it lasted a lot longer for her. Maybe she was closer to the center? I don't know. What I do know is that I don't want to feel the earth moving under my feet anymore today or in the near or even distant future. Too scary for my liking! If interested, you can read more about it here. Just click on the side where it says Magnitude 5.2 Illinois April 18, 2008.


UPDATE: Seems like the majority of people that I talked to today about the earthquake thought the same thing that I did...that someone was shaking their beds to wake them up. My mom thought that was what was happening, so did my dad, my aunt thought it was thunder, my uncle thought it was their furnace acting up. Found out today that this was actually the third earthquake I've experienced. I knew that I'd experienced one back in 1987. I remember that one. Scared me almost as much as this mornings did, but it was afternoon when it happened and I was home with my dad so he made me feel a little safer. Anyway, my mom said that I also experienced one back in 1968 when I was but a wee babe of 6 months of age. Mom said that she had just put me down for a nap when things started shaking. she immediately picked me up and ran outdoors, not knowing what to think. Of course, it stopped after awhile and things were calm after that. Well, almost all was calm. I guess since mom woke me up from my nap that I decided it was play time. She said I didn't go back to sleep that afternoon at all. Hmm, kind of sounds like how I was this morning. No way was I going to go back to sleep after almost being shaken out of my bed.