The making of an obsession

Stroll back in time with me, please....to BEFORE the Haiti earthquake. For some reason, my 9 year old son, Pooper, was interested in earthquakes. He liked to read about the, "ring of fire" and look on the USGS website, monitoring the latest quakes happening along the pacific circle.

Periodically, which means, almost every day, if not hourly, he would look quizically, and run upstairs. He would return a while later, very self assured, and tell me, "I knew it, we just had a 1.2" or "yeah, that was the 3.5 in Alaska that I felt"

He wasnt nervous, he wasnt scared, he just seemed very interested in the seismic activity occuring around the globe.

Fine.

Then one night....while others were sleeping, I was watching the late night news, and heard of the major quake in Haiti.

Fan-tastic-o! NOT!~ this meant that Pooper's new passion was not going to be dying down any time soon.

and then there was Chile....and all those other international quakes which Pooper has now memorized and placed in his tectonic files.

Easter 2010 has most assuredly cemented Pooper's future as a Cal Tech Seismologist. He was sleeping when the shaking began...but it was so strong, and lasted for 1/2 of forever, that by the time it finally stopped, he was gathered together with the family, away from windows and heavy pictures on walls. When it was done, Poopers coveted bowling trophy had been knocked off a shelf....certainly this has made a life-long impact on his psyche.

And, if that all wasnt enough....

Apparently, our playroom is on a fault line.