Sh-sh-sh-sh-shaking

The floor shook.

I was eating lunch with my sister, her kids Katie and Conor, my mother, and the legendary Sean Adams. I thought little of it when I felt a vibration - a tremor - under my feet.

I looked at Sean to see if he was being a jumpy nine-year-old. No.

I looked at my sister's feet to see if they were tapping the floor. Nope.

The rest of the family? Expressionless, just eating their lunch.

What the deuce? I put away in my mind.

Of course, the TV was on, but it was the sounds of some dreadful Nickelodeon show coming out of it.

Then about an hour later, I was chatting with Carrie via instant messenger when she said to me, "There was an earthquake in Virginia. We felt an aftershock here!"

I read it out loud...when it hit me.

"I FELT IT!"

My sister's reaction was the same. We both thought the other had been tapping our feet on the floor.

My reporter's brain turned to thinking about Virginia, especially given the epicenter was quite close to Richmond. I checked in my two close friends there: one was at work and said she turned as white as a ghost as the building, only about 20 miles from the epicenter, swayed. The other, our dear friend Jon, was sunning himself with his beautiful family, in North Carolina. I have myriad other friends and acquaintances all throughout the Washington to North Carolina corridor, and they all checked in via Facebook and/or Twitter. Everyone is fine.

The damage seems to be minimal. No lives were lost.

A few grey hairs? Maybe.

All in all, I guess we can simply chalk it up to being a heck of an experience.