Dear Stella:

Yesterday you experienced your very first earthquake! You, Grandma Lisa, Clare, Patrick, and I were at the pool and all of a sudden we felt shaking. At first I thought Patrick was just being silly and shaking my chair, but then I saw the concrete moving back and forth and heard the gate clanging. We later found out that it was a 5.8 magnitude earthquake that happened in Virginia - about 100 miles south of us. Daddy was at work at the Naval Hospital in Bethesda, MD and I couldn't get a hold of him on the phone for a while because everyone was trying to make phone calls at the same time so the phone system crashed. We are all safe and you slept right through the whole thing. You are such a sweetheart.

Love, Mom