Living in these parts, when you hear something go “boom” you think Pentagon terrorist attack. And that is what I thought yesterday as the earth started to shake, that low, loud rumble began to permeate everything, and my heart started to pound.

It was 1:55 PM and I had just finished nursing Pie Pie and was sitting at the dining room table with Mini Mister and Little Miss as they ended their late lunch. The house began to shake and I first thought it was a train. Freights come by regularly and some seem like they are going to come right through the house. But then the TV began swaying on the wall and the chandelier tipped this way and that and I knew it was something more.

I told the kids to quick, come with me, and that we are going outside. (Which is not what you are supposed to do. You are supposed to stand under a doorway. But all my childhood training left my brain at that moment.) As quick as light, Mini Mister slipped down from his chair and into the folds of my skirt. I secured Pie Pie in my arms and motioned to Little Miss to come quick, but she had frozen in fear. She stood on her chair and held her head in her hands and simply didn’t move. I scooped her up with my other arm and pushed Mini Mister toward the door, telling them that they had no time to put on Crocs. As we traversed the kitchen and the foyer, I could hear dishes clinking together in the sink, and the lights flickered a bit. Our flooring seemed so unstable as we bumped along and I feared it would give-way and send us all crashing into the basement. As soon as we stepped outside, the earth ceased and all was still once more.

My hands were shaking and the kids eyes were wide with terror. I quickly found my cell phone and tried to call my husband who works in downtown Washington D.C. I feared the worst but hoped for the best. All I could see in my mind was that huge, thick, column of ugly black smoke rising from the Pentagon building that September, 11th. I was crossing the Key Bridge traveling back to get home filled with fear wondering what would be hit next. My husband’s voice on the other end of the phone line said that he was fine and that it was an earthquake. As he decended in the concrete stairwell his voice faded away and died out. At least he was okay.

I turned on the news and snuggled Pie Pie in the Moby wrap as I packed the diaper bag in the case of aftershocks. I sat on the sofa yesterday afternoon, as the kids napped next to me watching the news. It was indeed an earthquake and it registered 5.8. It was centered about 80 miles away from us in Mineral, VA. I was relieved to hear that there was little damage, no early reports of injury, and that the earth had created this fear, not someone else.

Last night, Mini Mister was still scared. He snuggled up in bed with me, waiting for sleep to come, and I told his wide eyes that it would be okay.