About fifteen years ago, I was home alone, working upstairs at my computer when I suddenly heard a strange sound as my entire house began to sway from side to side. At first, I thought I was imagining things. My house had never swayed before. But it was real! As I was carried from side to side, I recalled discussions with my neighbors about how our homes were built on swampland and that slowly, one millimeter at a time, our homes were sinking into the ground. I worried that the process had suddenly accelerated and our houses were going down. Fast. I ran down the stairs and out of my house as quickly as my feet would take me. Once outside, I noticed my neighbor across the street standing at her second-floor window. “What on earth was that?” I screamed. “It’s an earthquake,” she answered. An earthquake?! Earthquakes happen in places like L.A. Japan. Indonesia. I’d never experienced an earthquake before and it definitely did not feel like I would have expected. I believe it measured “only” about 5 on the Richter Scale, but even so, it shook me up, both literally and figuratively.