I've been through my first (two!) earthquakes now. I live in St. Louis, so that's a little over a hundred miles from the epicenter. I woke up a little after four this morning because my bed was shaking. I actually thought it was my dog itching or something, but it continued even after she jumped down. The shaking had stopped even before I got out of bed. I knew it was an earthquake right away, which kind of surprised me. This isn't exactly an earthquake prone area. The nearest fault line is in New Madrid and the last time it acted up was during the pioneer days. (That was when the Mississippi appeared to run backwards with the force of the quakes). But I guess there's only so many things that can shake the ground for an extended period, so maybe it's not too strange that my brain went straight to earthquake.
I checked on the dogs and everything seemed fine. It was a 5.2 but it didn't strike me as bad here. It might even have been neat if I hadn't been more asleep than awake. We've only felt one aftershock here. It was about an hour ago. This one was a 4.5. I wouldn't want to have one everyday, but there are definitely worse things I've been through (hurricane, tornado, flood). I'll add this to my list of life experiences. I hope no one was injured closer to the center of things. Prayers & good wishes to those affected.
miaame-Everything okay over there?