Earthquake, Statue of Liberty lightning strike, and the solar eclipse ...

If I’m on vacation, in the ocean, salty breeze in my frizzy hair, then yes, sure. I like the bobbly feeling of being in the middle of a soft wave.

But, when I’m sitting on a sofa in the middle of my living room, holding my 6-month-old niece, and the house starts moving from under us? No thank you.

Like most East Coasters, I felt like Friday’s 4.8 magnitude earthquake came out of nowhere. In addition to better food and the real change of seasons, keeping our feet firmly planted on the ground is one of the reasons we prefer life here over the sunshine and seismic activity of the West Coast. We don’t do rattly, paintings-fall-off-the-wall earthquakes in Jersey.