I was sitting in my office at the front of the house when I thought I felt a huge gust of wind. It didn't stop, the walls started shaking and getting more and more violent. I ran, stumbling up the stairs, to get Quentin out of his crib (Belle was at camp) as picture frames were crashing to the ground, shattering everywhere. It was loud, the house was shaking, I thought for sure it was going to come crumbling down around me. I swept the baby into my arms and ran to the front door, dodging the wall of frames as they were still falling down. All of this in about 40 seconds. The scariest 40 seconds of my life.
I ran to the neighbors to check on the nanny and kids, they were all ok. When Quentin and I returned to the house we found broken glass and wall hangings all over the floor. Every wall hanging that didn't fall is crooked. A lot of items on dressers and night stands were on the floor and dresser drawers were opened. Luckily, Quentin and I were safe and standing. A relief. My neighbor Dina came over to check on us, saw the mess of glass etc. and helped me sweep it up before I went to get Belle from camp.
I called Kyle at least 30 times, but couldn't get him. My cell phone was jammed up with all the calls in the area. I called my mom on our land-line phone, and found myself so overwhelmed with adrenaline as I told her about my experience 5 minutes earlier.
After about an hour, I got an email from Kyle that he was on the road to come home. His office immediately evacuated with no re-entry until structurally evaluated. Now, we're together as a family and it feels so good, but makes me think -- I need to have a better disaster plan and know that cell phones never work when everyone is trying to use them at the same time.
Wow, what an experience. Here is how Annabelle tells the story from her day at camp. Apparently, the three-year-old was unfazed.
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