Fear Itself

I feel like, for the most part, I'm a pretty calm and laid-back person. I don't think about danger as much as my mom and grandmothers feel that I should. I mean, I don't do stupid things like walk around by myself in the middle of the night in downtown DC, but I'll make solo journeys from one country to another without thinking twice.

Friday night/early Saturday morning, I was in deep REM sleep when I was jolted out of bed by the loudest house-shaking blast you've ever heard. The first thing I thought was, "Someone's bombed the Capitol!" Why this was my first thought, I have no idea, but I was poised and ready leave all my earthly possessions behind, grab Duncan, and hop on the evacuation bus (more on that later). However, as the early morning brain haze and adrenalin rush equalized, I realized it was just a thunderstorm. Being from the South where we live and breathe summer thunderstorms, it should've been just another stormy night. But I guess somewhere in my subconscious lies this fear, especially since I'm only a stone's throw away from the Capitol.

I hope this doesn't serve to stir my mother's fears. I really do feel safe here. There's an absurdly small ratio of police to citizens, and they sure are not wasting their time giving out tickets (see here). I live just a couple of blocks from a police station, and a police car drives up my street at least every 10-20 min at night. There's also an emergency broadcast bus that does its test every Sunday (Duncan hates it), and I suppose if there were a true emergency, you're supposed to get on the bus to evacuate. I just thought it was funny that the bombing thought was the first thing that popped into my head. At least you know I'm prepared. :)