This morning the western suburbs of Chicago were jolted by a tiny 4.3 earthquake. Since it occurred at 4am, I slept through it, but for some strange reason I was wide awake by 4:15am. Not sure if the reason was the cat who was making noise, barfing, and pushing in MO's door - or maybe it was the earthquake. I tried to get back to sleep, but it was useless, so I made some coffee and turned on the TV to watch the news. The local news coverage was all about the earthquake. The local Fox station was interviewing people who called in with their experience, yet the anchor seemed a bit disappointed when caller after called reported no injuries or damage. I found this all very entertaining since I grew up in California, and any earthquake under 6.0 is really more of a hiccup. All of this talk about earthquakes started to make me a tad bit homesick for California, which is a very odd concept - do people see tornadoes on TV and get homesick for Kansas?
Simultaneously there is a foot of snow outside the window, which was the other top local news story this Chicago morning. For me, snow is one of the many things I adore about living in this city. I did not grow up with snow so I am not jaded like many Midwesterners are. I enjoy putting on the Sorels and going tromping in the snow. I get giddy about the idea of making snow angels. I get a tiny bit bummed out when the snow is too powdery and does not form good snowballs. I do look forward to snow every Autumn... and I also cannot wait for it to go away every Spring. I certainly would miss the snow if I no longer lived around it.
My day started out with coffee, being a little homesick, and also realizing again how much I truly enjoy Chicago.
