I feel the earth move under my feet...

And other natural disasters...

Well as I'm sure you all know, while I was in Martha's Vineyard, the East Coast experienced the biggest earthquake in centuries! We were in the workspace watching the riveting coverage from Libya about how Tripoli had fallen and Mr. Gadhafi was somewhere in hiding. It was actually incredible TV and I couldn't stop watching. It meant that we had a little momentary lull in liveshots but we were still working hard. And then all of a sudden, one of my colleagues from another network said "look at the wires crossing... there was an earthquake in DC!" And as soon as she finished that sentence, we all noticed that the room was shaking and the little chandeliers were swaying. It was ever so slight but when I realized that we were 500 miles away and not technically connected to the mainland, I thought it had to be a fairly big deal. I have never been in an earthquake and was a little freaked out that the ground was moving so far away so I could only imagine what it was like closer to the epicenter!


Immediately, my blackberry exploded with hundreds and hundreds of emails about the quake but the one that stood out to me was that the epicenter was a town between Charlottesville and Richmond. That's exactly where Brian's grandpa and uncle and aunt live so immediately I was worried about their safety. It took a little time but we heard from one of Brian's cousins that everything was okay on the farm and I could breathe a huge sigh of relief!

Brian was on his way home and was actually in Rhode Island at the time of the earthquake and didn't feel it. I originally thought he was going to get stuck in the airport due to delays but it turns out that he got home only about an hour late! Amazing! I've been much more delayed than that before without the excuse of an earthquake! As soon as he got home, he went to check out the damage at his place and mine. At first I got the message from him: "everything is good! No damage!" I was so relieved until the next message: "Now going to check out your place!"

Well I have a lot more stuff than Brian so I knew I wouldn't be so lucky. The next message I got from him was "it could be worse." Many things fell off shelves and cabinets, including my poor plate collection. Ever since I started traveling abroad, I have bought a plate or piece of pottery from each country so I could remember my visit. Each plate has some shade of blue in the design and they are displayed on top of my kitchen cabinets and a china cabinet. Well, during the earthquake, they all fell down and a couple of them slid right off the china cabinet.

Now before I go any further, I know they are just plates and I should be grateful that there was no further damage and no loss of life. I truly am grateful for those facts. And I am not one to put a lot of stock in material possessions. I firmly believe they are just that and they are staying behind when it's time for me to see Jesus. I am not one to spend a lot on things because they are just that. But I still had to mourn a bit. The two plates that fell were special to me. One was from Mexico and was the first plate in my collection. But worse than that, the one that shattered the most was from Kyrgyzstan and was my favorite. Beyond that, it really is irreplaceable. Returning to Kyrgyzstan, especially after their recent blip in democracy, is not on my list of things to do in life. I mean, I enjoyed my time and experiences there but I've already been there, done that.

After a few moments of mourning while looking at the pictures Brian sent, I moved on because I had other issues to deal with! Hurricane Irene was predicted to be one of the worst storms in recent history and Martha's Vineyard was directly in its path! We kept discussing the notion that POTUS would be leaving early and the WH kept insisting that wasn't going to happen. They finally announced it was happening day off, as soon as POTUS finished making his statement. The good news is that we were travel pool so we would be on AF1 with him. The bad news is that it was more crucial to have my correspondent on the plane with him and not me. I totally agreed with that assessment but it meant that I would have to figure out how to get home before the airports and ferry system shut down. I really didn't want to be stuck on MV during the storm. I know there were many worse places to be and in the end, we weren't in the eye of the storm but I still wanted to be home in my own house!

The next few hours of trying to figure out the logistics of getting home were a bit stressful but in the end, I had experienced (or at least attempted) every form of transportation in my quest to get home. So my co-worker and I took the last ferry off the island on Friday night. Then we were picked up by a car service and driven two hours to Boston. We checked into the hotel near the airport and slept about three hours. Then we took a bus to the airport and boarded a 6a flight home. It was on time and everything! Then I took a cab home! (At one point, we had booked train tickets so I'm counting that form of transportation. About ten minutes after we booked that, we got news that they were shutting down Amtrak service so we quickly cancelled those tickets!) I was so glad to get home to my house before the storm was at its worst! I immediately cleaned up all the stuff that had fallen from the earthquake and ran a few errands to prepare for the hurricane. Luckily, I was so tired from not sleeping much the night before, I slept through the entire storm. Thankfully, we had no damage and my power stayed on the whole time!!

After an earthquake and a hurricane all in one week, I was reminded of God's awesome power and even more so, His protection. And I'm so grateful for that! But I'd also be grateful if we don't have to experience another natural disaster any time soon!