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“We wondered if the ash would ever go away”

The Columbian
Published: April 1, 2010, 12:00am

On May 18, 1980, I was 20 and living in my hometown of Spokane, the main target of Mount St. Helens’ wrath. Ignoring the warnings that the mountain had erupted (and figuring the west side of the state would bear the brunt of the activity), my then-boyfriend and I went out to shop.

Imagine our horror as an hour later we stood on a downtown sky bridge and watched as a huge, dark wall of ash came at Spokane. The drive home, usually a 10 minute hop, seemed to take forever as the truck wipers did little to help keep the ash off the windshield. It was like driving in the worst gray snowstorm you can imagine – visibility was absolutely nil.

We spent the next three days stuck in the house and ventured out only if needed (wearing surgical masks to keep the ash from getting in our lungs and using pantyhose over vehicle filters). We wondered if the ash would ever go away.

As you can imagine, Spokane and the surrounding areas were an incredible mess with inches of the fine, soft, flour-like ash everywhere. Twenty years later, we were still finding remains of the ash in my mother’s backyard under old bushes and shrubs.

As if the memories of the eruption weren’t enough, I’ve kept a little vial of the ash as a “souvenir.” I also am the owner of a lovely (gray) “I survived Mount St. Helens” T-shirt which, along with a surgical mask, brought many laughs and memories to audiences when worn during local fashion shows held in the 90’s showcasing clothing through the decades.

Over the years, I held the belief that the Mount St. Helens eruption was a “not-to-be-repeated-once-in-a-lifetime” experience. Now living in Vancouver and in full view of the mountain (which seems to be growing the dome back at an alarming rate), I can only hope that belief is true!

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