Thankful

In my almost 28 years, I have experienced several almost disasters. My first almost disaster occurred in 2004 when I was interning on the Hill. Everyone was on the lawn waiting for Regan's funeral procession when Capitol security came running towards the crowds screaming "run, run, run south of the Capitol, run, run." Apparently the governor of Kentucky's plane flew into restricted air space over the Capitol. Of course, after the terror occurring in 2001, Capitol security is very thorough (thankfully). While it was happening though we had no idea what was going on. A plane was too close to the Capitol and that's all we knew. I kicked off my shoes and ran barefooted south of the Capitol as fast as I could. It wasn't until I made it to the Department of Education that we realized what was happening. Shoeless in DC and a bit shaken!

My second almost disaster happened on an airplane. After circling in a holding pattern for over an hour, the pilot explained that the wheels were not coming out of the plane and we were burning off gas as there would likely be a fire when the plane landed without wheels. After reminding us of the emergency exits and warning of the likely experiences and feelings, we started to descend. As we descended, the pilot tried one last time and guess what, the wheels came out! Smooth landing indeed! Hurrying to the emergency exit in a crowded and possibly (likely) burning plane, NO THANK YOU!

My third almost disaster occurred stranded in my house alone during the two worst blizzards in Virginia history. Both times I had been traveling for work and both times I made it home just in time to swing by the neighborhood grocery before the snow started. Sleeping in my car for days, not exactly ideal.

My final almost disaster occurred this afternoon when NYC experienced its first earthquake in over 100 years. Evacuating down eight flights of stairs with the building shaking was just a little extra exercise in what turned out to be an otherwise lovely day. Earthquakes not exactly my thing.

During all of the occurrences, I have been thankful that everything turned out alright. That I was taken care of by God. Since this very minor earthquake today, people have made fun of how little damage it caused and the 'drama' associated with the non-damage. How silly is this? When did no damage become something to make fun of? I know I am thankful!