An earthquake is a ground shake.

On December 30, 2014, 13 days ago, the ground shook near Irving, Texas, the site of the old Dallas Cowboys’ stadium, about ten miles from the house.

Last Sunday, January 4, 2015, my wife asked, “Did you notice the cracks?”

The cracking was odd. I have lived in a house with foundation movement and diagonal cracks around the windows and doors. These cracks weren’t like those. I have had water intrusion and cracking from water damage. These cracks weren’t like those. These were different. I could not figure out what caused them. It was odd.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, January 6 and 7, 2015, twelve (12) earthquakes trembled across North Dallas. The center was the old stadium in Irving, and some were much closer than ten miles from the house. Everyone was talking: “I felt it. Did you feel it? It woke me up last night.” The story was all over the news.

I examined the cracks again. Earthquake damage. That was it. That’s what we had. I’d never seen them before, because I’d never lived with earthquakes before.

The largest of the shakes measured 3.5 on the Richter magnitude scale. That’s a small tremor, with only minor damage anticipated, a crack or two, here or there – and here, right here at home. . . .

That’s when I remembered!

I was standing in the kitchen. All of a sudden, something large was in my left ear. It was empty and white, and it bent my head over. I was scared and I turned to my wife.  “Am I having a stroke?” My eyes were wide. Then the thing in my ear grew smaller and was gone.

It was after that we noticed the cracks. We’d had an earthquake, and I’d heard it.

It wasn’t the sound of dishes falling or furniture moving. It wasn’t the sound of wood tightening and walls splitting. It wasn’t the sound of rocks tumbling or soil shifting. It wasn’t a sound. It was something else. When I think and remember, it seemed more like a voice, a voice without words, a wide empty space that grew in my ear without color but with weight and movement.

I heard the voice of the earth quake, and it was nothing I had ever heard or felt before.

The lands of this earth hold their secrets. Perhaps, when they release some, they do speak to us.

I don’t know, but I know I did experience something.

So, I’m going to buy the T-shirt.

“I survived the 3.5”

That’s the message on the T-shirt posted on Twitter and reported in this morning’s paper. I feel it is a point well taken and worth the memory, however fleeting.

Maybe you’ll see me on the street.

Wave, as you pass by.

Grandpa Jim