These little earthquakes

T and I both dreamed about earthquakes last night. My dream was that I was rolling, shuddering in my bed. I woke up and thought, casually, "Oh, another earthquake," and I went back to sleep.

Earlier this week, I was in the kitchen and T said from the living room "We're having an earthquake." A moment later our entire house jittered and jolted for about two seconds. The dog barked. T jumped from his chair and I ran to the living room. After the jolting stopped, the house continued to shudder, like there was a fun-house motor under our floorboards. The open front door waved, our welcome bells jingling. When it subsided, T and I looked at each other and shared shaky laughs. "I don't like earthquakes," I said.

We have had maybe a dozen little earthquakes since Easter, when a 7.2 quake struck Mexicali and waved its way up to San Diego, causing the ground to undulate like we were on a suspension bridge. T and I went outside for that one, since it lasted longer than we expected. We sat down on the front stoop as the ground gently moved. We were at sea on dry land.

Most of the other quakes I've felt have been minor. At dinner at a friend's apartment, where we all looked around as the table trembled, commenting that we were tired of earthquakes. At work where I felt like I was having a bout of vertigo, until I realized it was the building that was moving ever so slightly, not me. On the phone with a friend who lives 20 minutes away, with her squealing "Oh my God, did you feel that?" In my bedroom watching the bathroom door sway and realizing that none of the windows were open to cause a breeze.

It's definitely a weird feeling, unsettling, and I'm thankful that we've only experienced brief jolts and little tremors. We are in an area that is mostly up to code in case a big one comes. (Knock on wood.) Our house has been around for 80 years. (Again, knock on wood.)

We think the ground isn't supposed to move, but it's always shifting somewhere. Still, that doesn't make it any less disconcerting when you actually feel it.

I don't like earthquakes.