Before I showcase a few from today’s session, I thought I would take a trip down memory lane to October 17, 1989. Where were you? Like many others, I Ieft work early that day from Alameda. I was going north on Highway 680 in San Ramon/Dublin on my way home from work to hurry up and catch the World Series game. It was the Battle of the Bay–the A’s versus the Giants–and the entire San Francisco Bay Area was watching this series with interest. At 5:04 p.m I felt my car start rocking while I was doing probably 65-70 mph on the freeway and thought “Must be time for a wheel alignment”. As I exited the Alcosta ramp, there was a car stopped smack in the middle and a man was walking around his car as if he had a flat. He was blocking the entire exit and I swerved around him, flipping him off for hogging the road. What the H-LL was he doing? I turned right onto Alcosta Blvd and saw the traffic street lightd bouncing up and down. OH!!!! We just had an earthquake. I barely felt it going that fast on the freeway, but folks all over California felt it. 15 seconds and lives were dramatically changed. The Bay Bridge had a section collapse. The Cypress Structure collapsed and flattened like a pancake in parts, trapping and fatally taking many lives. The Marina was on fire. Santa Cruz had stores collapse in the mall area downtown. I raced inside our condo, and found fish tank water had sloshed out onto the carpet, but the fish were okay and still in the tank. Our two cats that didn’t get along both slept on our bed close to us that night because they were so scared. That was twenty years ago. Where were you?
At 5:04 today I was finishing a tween and teen’s session with their Labrodoodle, Rusty. I didn’t even realize it was 5:04 today when others all around the Bay Area were probably observing their moment of silence.
Rusty, you lighten my reflective mood. October 17, 1989 was a day we will never forget in the Bay Area.
