So, here's how it went down for me.
I was busy putting out proverbial fires at work all morning, so lunchtime really came and went without me even having time to take a break. I had meetings at 2:00 and 3:00, so around 1:45, I knew that if I didn't break away and go grab some lunch, I wasn't going to eat for the rest of the day. I made it down the elevator and headed over to Au Bon Pain for a salad, and on my way back (five minutes later), I noticed that the street lights and pedestrian signals weren't lighting up like they were supposed to. Then, as I walked toward my building, I saw people STREAMING out of the front doors as if the fire alarm had gone off, but I couldn't hear it. So, I stayed outside to wait for my coworkers to make it down from the fifth floor, and when they didn't come down within ten minutes, I started to get a little freaked out. (Ok, so if you haven't figured it out, I didn't feel the earthquake. Not one bit. I'm almost praying for an aftershock so I can feel what everyone else felt. But in that moment, I was totally clueless.) I tried calling up to the front desk and to a couple of my coworkers, but I couldn't get through. My mind immediately went into panic mode, and I thought there was a gunman or a terrorist on my floor who had cut the phone lines, since LITERALLY EVERYONE ELSE IN THE BUILDING WAS OUT. I wandered around for about twenty minutes trying to find them outside until I FINALLY found them standing in the middle of North Capitol St. and they were able to tell me what happened. Apparently, all the desks and computers were swaying, and people were diving under desks in their offices and in the lobby. Everyone was totally freaked out, but they kept on keepin' on until they were told to evacuate, which is when I found them.
(All of these pictures are from my phone, and it's a miracle I even had that with me! I never take my phone with me when I get lunch, but yesterday I was worried I would miss my 2:00 meeting if I didn't keep track of the time, so thank goodness I had it! I didn't even see the email my mom sent me asking me to call her until 6:00! All of the phone lines were jammed, and it took me a good half hour to get through to her and to David in Charlotte, who had texted to make sure I hadn't been flattened.)
Immediately, the streets were closed off and we were told to stand in the middle of the street in case an aftershock brought down a nearby building, but then the fire trucks had a hard time getting through, so police officers were actually arguing with each other over where we should stand! Some of my coworkers bailed and headed for the metro, but we soon found out it was running 15 mph, and I wasn't even sure I would be able to catch a bus from the Pentagon. Plus, I had driven to work yesterday morning, so I needed to get back in the building in order to get my keys and drive home. But, I knew all the highways were jammed anyway. As people started heading home (either walking or braving the metro), a few of us decided just to ride it out and headed to a bar on Capitol Hill! Fortunately, I had my wallet with me since I had been buying lunch, but at this point, I had been holding onto my uneaten salad for an hour and a half, and I think I threw it away thirty minutes later. I just got tired of carrying it around and was too distracted to be hungry anymore!
Megan and I originally had plans to go to a singles happy hour last night, and we decided a little ground shaking shouldn't keep us away, so we went anyway, and we brought Keith and Laura with us! But of course we didn't get there before Laura stopped to interview the cops about their busy day.
So basically, after hanging out in bars for five hours, we decided we were hungry and got some Thai food before Megan drove us back to the office to get our cars (and fortunately, traffic was clear)! My car stayed pretty safe in the garage, but when I got home, I noticed several things had fallen off my bookshelf, my mortarboard from graduation had fallen off my armoir, and a coffee mug I painted last year had dumped over onto the floor. Not exactly collateral damage, but it's a weird feeling to walk in on things out of place and wondering what they looked like while they were rattling back and forth. Super glad none of my shoes fell in my closet, though... that would have been a mess!
So, I got home around 10:00 to this message from Molly...
We did indeed.
Here's the NBC Nightly News Report from yesterday... it may be old news to you, but I'm posting it here so that I can go back and watch it in five years and remember what I experienced. Complete chaos!
1 comment:
AHH! I can't believe you didn't feel it! We were definitely shaking and quaking at WBC! Aimee was freaking out, I was standing in my doorway Saved-By-The-Bell-style, and Justin was running up and down the halls LOL Sad you missed it. It was exciting. And... I was somewhat hoping for an aftershock, too. We're twins. Love you!
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