Post memories and stories here, please. I’ll post more this evening. So exiting to see enthusiasm for this topic!
Mount Saint Helens, May 18, 1980
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Sunday morning, Abbotsford, BC. For those of you who don't know our area at all, Abbotsford is just across the border from Washington State, about 40 miles east of Vancouver, BC.
My son (almost 4 at the time) was at the table, eating his breakfast with my husband and myself. Being Sunday, we were getting ready for church. My baby daughter (just three months old) was still asleep in her crib. Suddenly, we heard a low, but loud, boom. My husband and I looked at each other and agreed it must have been a scheduled blast on one of the local hills, preparation for construction of a new residential area. My son vehemently shook his head and said, "Volcano, it was a volcano". Uh huh. As grown ups, we nodded sagely and agreed that it could have been but was, more than likely, blasting on Sumas Mtn. Little did we know that my son was absolutely right.
Fast forward to our church service and the first words out of the pastor's mouth were, "There was a massive volcano this morning in Washington State; Mt. St. Helens erupted and its entire top was blown away". He continued on to tell us what he knew from early news stories. My husband and I just looked at each other, stunned... How on earth did our almost 4 year know?? (It wasn't the first time he'd said things that later turned out to be true, things he had no way of knowing.)
We had planned a mini vacation down to San Francisco for the following day. The kids were to spend the week with family and we had the week to ourselves. We weren't sure we'd even be able to go and followed the news and road reports closely; we did go but it was pretty dicey in areas closer to the blast zone. Roads were opened and closed as needed. The devastation was crazy - the Toutle River was jammed with logs felled by the blast, ash everywhere, in some places so thick it looked like snow. Driving through, our car was covered in a thick coat of it. Everything was grey. I'll never forget the grey, all the ash and dust. Trees were covered in it, the ground was covered in it, houses were covered in it. The entire area around the Toutle River, and where it met the highway was blanketed in that fine grey dust.
Core memories were made that day and I've always looked at my son a little differently since then.
Sunday morning, Abbotsford, BC. For those of you who don't know our area at all, Abbotsford is just across the border from Washington State, about 40 miles east of Vancouver, BC.
My son (almost 4 at the time) was at the table, eating his breakfast with my husband and myself. Being Sunday, we were getting ready for church. My baby daughter (just three months old) was still asleep in her crib. Suddenly, we heard a low, but loud, boom. My husband and I looked at each other and agreed it must have been a scheduled blast on one of the local hills, preparation for construction of a new residential area. My son vehemently shook his head and said, "Volcano, it was a volcano". Uh huh. As grown ups, we nodded sagely and agreed that it could have been but was, more than likely, blasting on Sumas Mtn. Little did we know that my son was absolutely right.
Fast forward to our church service and the first words out of the pastor's mouth were, "There was a massive volcano this morning in Washington State; Mt. St. Helens erupted and its entire top was blown away". He continued on to tell us what he knew from early news stories. My husband and I just looked at each other, stunned... How on earth did our almost 4 year know?? (It wasn't the first time he'd said things that later turned out to be true, things he had no way of knowing.)
We had planned a mini vacation down to San Francisco for the following day. The kids were to spend the week with family and we had the week to ourselves. We weren't sure we'd even be able to go and followed the news and road reports closely; we did go but it was pretty dicey in areas closer to the blast zone. Roads were opened and closed as needed. The devastation was crazy - the Toutle River was jammed with logs felled by the blast, ash everywhere, in some places so thick it looked like snow. Driving through, our car was covered in a thick coat of it. Everything was grey. I'll never forget the grey, all the ash and dust. Trees were covered in it, the ground was covered in it, houses were covered in it. The entire area around the Toutle River, and where it met the highway was blanketed in that fine grey dust.
Core memories were made that day and I've always looked at my son a little differently since then.
I've been reading about the eruption online, and the articles mark a timeline from March through the eruption in May, of earthquakes and volcanic activity, including smaller eruptions leading up to the main event. So scientists knew something was coming, but were those happenings on the news throughout the US and Canada? Was the eruption a complete surprise to the general population?
So this is a bit weird, but I seriously don't remember it. I'm gen x so you'd think I would but I was only four when it blew. My mum said she remembered all the ash covering absolutely everything. She said everything was all grey. I don't know if they were expecting it or not, she never said. And dad has never talked about it.
Four is pretty young for remembering things... Where was your family living at the time?
