When the ground began to move....

The school day ended up being more of an adventure than expected.  At approximately 1:53PM, we experienced our first earthquake.  According to reports, it was a 5.9 but the impact of the incident was much more devastating than expected….

As the ground began to tremble, I immediately assumed my “cubicle mate” was shaking the desk.  I got up and went around the side to inquire as to what he was doing.  At that moment, the vibration became more intense.  To be honest, I had no idea what was going on.  As it continued, I found many thoughts going through my head “are we being attacked again”, “did a plane just crash”, “did something fall on the roof”.  I stopped and looked around and saw a co-worker racing to the hallway saying “it is an earthquake, get out of the building”.  I immediately reached out for my cell phone and headed to the door.

All I could think about as I was exiting the door was “where is the central location and are my children OK”.  I tried calling on my cell and circuits were down or overloaded.  I couldn’t text.  I was at a loss.  Once they confirmed that it was over and rated it at a 5.9, I decided that I needed to get home.  I needed to know that everyone was safe. 

I have to admit it was the longest one hour drive home that I have EVER experienced.  Many thoughts were going through my head.  What if they are scared? What if they are hurt?  What if the road is blocked and I can’t get there?  What if I get pulled over for going 85 mph (ok I finally slowed down)…

I was able to contact my mother and confirmed that all was good (at this point I was 20 minutes from the house).  I asked “should I go pick them up”?  After my mother calmed me down, I decided to let their day play out as normal. 

When they arrived home, they were happy and bursting with excitement from their day.  They talked of running the track to meeting new people.  They talked of their nice teachers to the lunch time conversations.  I stood listening and then finally said “yeah, but what about the earthquake”.  They both looked at me puzzled….

The children had been told that the movement was a result of construction down the road (at the soon to be new High School).  They had no idea that we experienced an earthquake.  As it all sunk in, they began to ask questions about “why, how, and will it happen again”.  We finally settled down and enjoyed a nice dinner and a crazy night full of energy and LOUD conversation.

As I lay down to go to sleep, I couldn’t help but think about the overall experience.  I am unsettled by the decision made to lie to the children about what had just occurred.  When I was in school, we constantly performed “drills” on what to do during an “attack”, “hurricane”, “tornado”, or any other form of devastation.  So why was this practice not performed yesterday?  Why the decision to lie?  What impact will that have on their trust in the school educators and leader? After all, the truth was revealed when they came home.  It was all over the television and couldn’t be avoided.

As most know, I am honest (to a fault).  I will never lie to my children and when asked a question..I answer honestly or choose not to answer at all….  I feel that in this situation the following should have occurred:

• The children should have followed the routine drill of exiting the building
• The children should have been notified that we just experienced a “minor” earthquake
• Teachers should have taken that moment in time to educate on “what is an earthquake”

After all, I am just Keeping it REAL….  We cannot shelter our children from devastation.  We need to educate them on how to prepare, protect, and survive.  We need to teach them about all that life may throw their way and assist them in learning to “stay calm”, “listen for directions”, “respond”.  All of this was taught to me when I was in school and it remains with me through tornado warnings, hurricanes, and now earthquakes….