I can’t figure out if I just dreamed an earthquake last night or if it really happened.

Whatever it was, it woke me up. But dreams have been known to do that too.

Usually, when earthquakes happen in the middle of the night, I wake up as they are beginning and I am awake through most of the shaking. Which is odd, because most earthquakes we feel only last a few seconds.

But last night (I think) at about 1 am, I woke up as the shaking was ending and I knew exactly what was happening. My husband was still asleep, but I would never expect him to wake up for something like that. In fact, I usually have to hit him several times when I “encourage” him to turn off his alarm in the morning.

I heard the shaking and felt it, and then heard everything settle like it does at the end of a quake. Now I was completely awake with the adrenaline/blood rush that happens in the middle of the night when you know something just isn’t right.

Or it could have just been Chad turning over in bed. That tends to make the mattress jiggle sometimes too.

And because I’m not really sure about the exact time of the dream-quake it makes it difficult to decipher the already confusing USGS website.

So my answer is “probably”. There are enough earthquakes happening in California all the time that I probably did feel something.

And then I realized how faulty my memory really is. There might have been a detectable earthquake, there might not have been. Even the website doesn’t help much to make me decide.

How often do I remember things wrong? Sometimes we remember things better than they were when they happened: we add a rainbow and some clouds when there was really a screaming toddler and a dirty diaper. But then, I am thinking, I remember things worse than they actually were: I insert sarcasm in someone’s voice tone or anger in their intention when those things are just my own personal creation.

Eathquakes aside, we rely on our memory for so much “truth” that we probably need to be careful to be observant, give grace, and look at things on the bright side when possible. And remember that it might just be your husband turning over on his side of the bed.