Costa Rica earthquake

We had an earthquake this evening and the first thing I wanted to do was run out and see if anyone else had noticed. Why do we do that? My plants were swaying and the floor was literally vibrating and all thoughts of what I should do for safety vanished. It took me back years ago to Costa Rica when we were in San Jose just before a 7.6 magnitude hit. We were in a high rise in the city center for a meeting and I forget the floor we were on but it was high and I was sure we were not going to get out of that building alive. There were women and men screaming in fear and all running for cover and I’ll never forget my husband’s reaction. I used to call him Mr. Danger.. cool as a cucumber in the midst of any kind of crisis. He casually leaned on a door frame and started whistling.. he caught immediate attention with that action and told everyone to be calm and the rumbling would end. You could hear a pin drop in that moment and a huge sigh of relief and happiness when the shaking stopped. He was then surrounded by beautiful and grateful Costa Rican women, he loved every moment of it. I remember his words to me later that day that fear is not the enemy, paralysis is.

copyright Es-tee Miller

“I used to sleep nude until the earthquake”…Alyssa Milano