Rare... or not so Rare?

I guess it depends on who you ask and what your definition of rare is, as to whether or not the earthquake we had last week in the central part of the US is considered rare. Apparently, smaller ones are rather common but they are so small that we don't really feel them. The 5.2 that we had last Friday morning was a little less common for this are. However, living near any fault line tells me that you have to expect the occasional earthquake. I personally don't live near the fault line but we are close enough that we felt them... or at least some of my family did.

The original quake occurred some time in the early morning Friday. It registered a 5.2 on the scale. John and I neither one felt or heard anything but my son did. He woke up the next morning asking what made the house shake. I looked at him like he was nuts but he was adamant that the house shook, "Just like the washer makes it do sometimes... but the washer wasn't running." I was getting ready to leave for work so I just made the out of no where comment, "I don't know, hun, unless we had an earthquake or something. Daddy and I didn't feel anything." I get in the car and on the radio they are talking about the earthquake we had in the night. I called him to let him know he wasn't crazy. "See, mom, I told you!!!"

I racked my brain trying to figure out how others felt this earthquake and John and I completely slept through it. I've come to a couple of conclusions. One is that I had been expecting wind and storms throughout the night. The wind hits our house head on so it often shakes the house. Therefore, if I did feel it, I would have subconsciously blamed it on the wind and ignored it going back to sleep. The second is that I probably blamed it on John subconsciously. Then again, it's possible I just didn't feel it.

We then had two large aftershocks felt in our area. One was Friday and the other was over the weekend. I felt the one on Friday but not the other one. It's weird. This is the first earthquake that I remember. :)

Anyway, no damage in my area and really other than a bit of excitement it wasn't much. Just wanted to report.