Our First Tremor/Almost Earthquake

Saturday night we experienced our first tremor. As has become our custom, we went to bed early. A little after 11:00 we both woke up to what sounded like wind roaring through our room and the noise of something rattling. But our windows were closed. I said, "What is that?" Then as we realized the bed was shaking it hit us both, "It's an earthquake!" We had just had a discussion with our tica (costa rican) mom about what to do in an earthquake. We were told to go outside. So my first response after realizing what was going on was, "Do I have to go outside in my pajamas?" But then it stopped. The rattling was a ceramic plaque our daughter Heather had given us from her trip to Puerto Rico. It was shaking against the wall. We now call it our earthquake alarm. We don't have a smoke detector in our room but we do have an earthquake detector!

Here is a picture of our earthquake detector:

The best part of this experience was the reaction of our tica mom when we asked her in the morning if there had been a tremor. She said, "Yes, did you hear me? I flew out of bed and changed into my clothes and started praying fervently, Lord protect us, guard us, save us, etc. I was like a crazy woman." She then walked into the room where her 25 year old son who is a teacher was correcting papers and told him there was an earthquake. He is like its okay, relax. And then he asked her why she had her clothes on and she said because of the earthquake. And he's like "Oh, for goodness sake, go back to bed." (That is a very loose translation.) Her telling it was hilarious. If you haven't figured it out, she has a great fear of earthquakes. They had a real big one in January of 6.0 and that has added to her nervousness. I told her that I hadn't wanted to go outside in my pajamas and she said that she put her clothes on real quick. So I asked her if I should have my clothes laid out each night so I can put them on in the event of an earthquake. She laughed.
Our tica mom informed us this afternoon that if the tremor had lasted 1 more second it would have qualified as an earthquake. We discovered via the internet that it was an earthquake that took place 115 miles south of here near the Costa Rica/Panama border and it measured 4.6 on the Richter scale. So we have now had the cultural experience of an almost earthquake. That is enough for me! vs