Penny and the Earthquake

Penny and Me :)

I've known Penny since middle school. We grew up together in Arizona and while we've lived in different cities and just down the street from each other, our friendship has never wavered. I have a habit of calling Penny my little sister (no, that's not what my blog is named after...that's a story for another time). She is three years younger than me and ever since our early teenage years I've always felt maternal/sisterly towards her. What I'm trying to say is I'd totally mess up someone's face for her. (That might just be the funniest thing I've ever said...everyone knows I'm a lover not a fighter....but when it comes to family I'll do some crazy things to protect them.) Her family is my family and my family is her family. That being said our extended families are pretty connected, as well. So when I make trips out to California to visit my cousin/grandma/aunts/uncles, Penny comes with.
On one particular trip we drove my dad's truck out to Upland, CA for some fun time with the fam. It was the ultimate "GIRLS ROAD TRIP!" We had burned CDs made with all of our favorite songs- Penny and I are both known sing along and air guitar on trips just to the grocery store so you can only imagine what we are like on the freeway. We make it to my grandma's safely and start our mini vacation with the usual: family meals, shopping, driving down to the beach, etc.
One morning, a couple of days in to our trip, we were sitting in the living room playing cards (Speed, if my memory serves me correct), when I got up to go make some breakfast. Penny was also going to make her way into the kitchen but was going to pick up the cards first, which were scattered across the carpet. Once I walked into the kitchen I heard a deep rumbling sound. I froze trying to figure out if it was possible for a large truck to be in the neighborhood and maybe that's what I was hearing. Then things in the kitchen slowly started to jiggle; everything was shaking and the noise was much louder now. I am still very confused about what's going on. Everything goes quiet after about 15-20 seconds and I'm still confused until one thought crosses my mind-"Was that an earthquake???" Let me remind you, we are from Arizona...we don't have earthquakes in Arizona so we don't know what one is like!
I jog out in to the living room where Penny is standing and massaging her temples. I'm too excited about just being in an earthquake to ask what exactly is wrong and instead just smile and yell, "Penny!"
"Hold on," she says, "you know when you stand up too fast and you get a little light headed? That just happened to me and it felt like everything was moving."
"Well it was moving in the kitchen too! That wasn't you getting up too fast, that was an earthquake!"
Penny seriously thought I was pulling her chain and trying to trick her. We stood there for a good 5 minutes debating on what had just happened; we decided to turn on the TV and see if there was any mention of an earthquake. Sure enough the first thing we hear is that there had been a mild quake and we were right in the area that would have felt it. Astonishment consumed Penny and we were both pretty excited about the whole thing. The phone started ringing with my cousins on the other end, knowing we have never been in one before, asking if we felt the trembles.
We still joke about the time Penny thought the earthquake was the result of standing up too fast. Actually, there are a lot of "Penny stories" that still get a lot of laughs and I am very excited to share them!