your daily rock : bend with the breeze

July 7, 2013 in Daily Rock, General

In June 1992, I was at a conference in Las Vegas when a huge earthquake hit Los Angeles, waking me at 5 a.m. as it careened through the desert to rock Vegas. I remember the date because I was about to give birth to my first daughter, Emma, less than 2 months later. It took me a moment to understand where I was and what was happening, but once I knew, I knew, though I had never felt an earthquake before.

I jumped out of bed and ran in circles around the room, calling John back in D.C. in fear. The shaking lasted for what seemed like a long time. As I ran past the closet, I could see my clothes swaying back and forth inside. As I ran by the bathroom (yeah, I’m not really sure why I was running at almost 8 months pregnant, but that’s what I did), water was sloshing out of the toilet. On the 19th floor, we swayed.

And then it stopped. Though there was damage to the hotel and several people got hit by falling debris, no one was seriously injured. And that’s because the building moved with the shaking rather than stand rigid against it.

Bend with the breeze.

Love,

(These beautifully painted rocks are created by Kim Mailhot, aka The Rock Fairy.

About Patti Digh

Patti Digh is an author, speaker, and educator who builds learning communities and gets to the heart of difficult topics. Her work over the last three decades has focused on diversity, inclusion, social justice, and living and working mindfully. She has developed diversity strategies and educational programming for major nonprofit and corporate organizations and has been a featured speaker at many national and international conferences.