Get the TV! GET THE TEEEEVEEEEE < insert dramatic slow motion voice here

Picture this:

It's 12:30 am, you're fast asleep in your oh so comfy bed and the ground starts to move and things start rattling around. You reach out and touch your husband.

"I feel it too."

Earthquakes are common in this new country you live in, so you lay in bed for a second, waiting it out. The shaking gains in intensity a bit and you think to yourself - oh this must be the peak, it should be dying down right about n- HOLY SHIT!

Suddenly your house sounds like it's splitting in two, things are falling around everywhere while you run/fall into your children's room. You grab the oldest out of bed and throw him on the floor in the doorway. Then you run to get your baby - who is almost two but darn it, he's still the baby! Amidst all the cracking and crashing and noise, you remember your brand new, very expensive television perched ever so precariously on that damn skinny entertainment center you just had to have.

You shout to your husband to save the tv while he's stumbling around in a sleep-induced stupor, being attacked by falling ironing boards. Okay, it was just one ironing board, but I bet in the dark, in the middle of an earthquake, it felt like two or three at least. He makes it to the doorway with you and the kids by the time the earthquake starts to die down.

"We lost the tv" you say. Which may sound petty and ridiculous in the grand scheme of things, but seriously - you JUST bought the thing.

"I bet we did," says your husband, and now that he's come to his senses he heads down the hall to survey the damage. You stay on the floor, shaking with adrenaline while your oldest cries and your baby sits there, very confused about the whole thing.

But no, the tv is okay, in perfect shape! Sure your entertainment center moved about eight or so inches, along with your sofa, refrigerator, and other things - but the tv is good to go! Why? Because unbeknownst to you, your husband actually did attach the handy dandy strap that came with the tv to keep it from tipping over.

So you put the kids in your bed and join your husband to see just how much broke. Which wasn't that much really. A tall shoe cabinet fell over, a few things fell out of the tops of the closets, a shelf in the bookcase came loose and fell down, but nothing broke, except the iron.

Your husband goes to comfort the kids in bed and you run to the computer to find out where the epicenter was and just how bad things were at this handy website:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/

And the earthquake isn't up yet. So you hit refresh. Nothing. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh.

There it is.

Turns out a 6.8 hit about 65 miles south of your town. Crazy! You check outside to make sure the Japanese aren't running around hysterically in the streets, because if they are, then you darn well better be too! But they're not. And you see your Japanese neighbor through the window, calm, replacing things that had fallen on the shelf. And you hear your American neighbors sweeping up glass. A few minutes later you hear a car driving around with some chime/siren type thing on it. You assume it's telling you that all is well, and not -

"Everybody run we're all going to die!"

You head back to bed. Wait for the aftershocks. Nothing. You put the kids back in their own bed and try to relax enough to fall asleep, unaware of all the little messes you'll have to clean up tomorrow, like the Tylenol and other things currently floating around your toilet.