I’d been running late all day long when I decided to go straight to my therapist appointment, not stopping for gas. I could get it on the way home. I remember leaving her office at 4:55, getting onto Highway 280 and up to speed when I saw the trees swaying back and forth ahead of me on the right. Having a van, I grabbed the steering wheel embracing for the wind I was sure was to hit it with a powerful force. I put my foot on the brake and the van started rocking back and forth. I had no control over the van since the wheels were not on the ground, but bouncing as the asphalt highway rolled under the vehicles.
Here is the building my daughter Melanie was working in the day of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Thank goodness she came home early. But this was back in the days before cell phones, so I didn’t know she was all right until I arrived home 2 ½ hours later.
That’s where I was on October 17, 1989 at 5:04 pm. Where were you? Most people who lived in the San Francisco Bay Area that day can tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing the day the earth shock. Others around the nation saw firsthand the power of Mother Nature as they watched the announcers on TV while the World Series came to a halt! It was the Giants playing the A’s – The Bay Bridge World Series!
To have the Giants win the playoffs to be able to play in the World Series is adding to the remembrance of the day. It is the 25th anniversary of the Loma Prieta Earthquake.
The rest of the afternoon and evening were horrifying for me. I was almost out of gas as I mentioned earlier. The earthquake had cutoff all electricity, which meant gas stations were closed. Thank goodness I knew several people who race cars. I stopped at several of their houses to not only get gas, but to get up enough nerve to continue home.
For you see, my daughter, Melanie was working in Los Gatos at the time. I was able to get bits and pieces of news on a radio station. I knew Los Gatos was badly hit and buildings were down.
“God, please have Melanie be all right!” was the verbal and mental prayer I said all the way home.
Finally 2 ½ hours later, a trip that would normally take me about 30 minutes, I made it home. As I rounded the curve of the driveway and approached the home, Melanie came out the door. My prayers were answered. Thank you God!
For those of you who walk Rancho San Antonio, this is the building that occupied the large field just after you cross the walking bridge. It was St. Joseph’s Seminary.
During the day Melanie had not felt well and came home. If she hadn’t, she would have been one of the fatalities since the building she worked in collapsed. Some of her co-workers didn’t make it.
Each day I try to remember to say, “I love you!” to my loved ones. Each day I try to remember how my prayers are answered – always! Sometimes they are answered before I ask them. Sometimes they are answered in ways different than I have asked. But in the end, I see I am watched over – always!
I’ve got some “Earthquake Preparedness Kit” info I’ll share tomorrow. But for now, this Granma has a date to watch her grandson play for the JV football team at high school. Melanie has blessed me with three wonderful boys. I’m spending as much time as I can with my loved ones. There is nothing more important in the world then all of them.
The day the earth shock did shake some sense into this brain, body and soul. Sometimes I forget and get over-committed. Not today! What’s important to me is to see #58 orange and black have fun!
And may the other orange and black team (Giants) have a fabulous World Series by bringing home the GOLD on this SILVER anniversary of earthshaking awareness. Most of us who lived through this experience are remembering the energy “in our bones” as our foundation in life was shook to its core.
