Defining moments

What were you doing on this day 29 years ago?  I was in elementary school in Eugene, Oregon when we heard the news that Mt. St. Helens blew.  My friends dog got run over that day as well, so I never forget this date.  We went up to visit friends in Vancouver the following week and I filled a jar with ash (which I still have.)  I remember the streets, cars, grass…everywhere was grey with ash several inches deep in their neighborhood.  It was very abrasive, scratching all the cars that were outside.  My grandmother was in an airplane flying close to St. Helens right when it blew, and she took a couple of amazing pictures.

The build-up was huge around here, with several minor eruptions leading up to the big one.  A song came out (I don’t know where I’m a gonna go when the volcano blows), there were t-shirts and television documentaries, it was quite the big deal.  The mountain, which was once almost a perfect cone, is now a chopped version of it’s former self. 

The destruction caused by the melting of snow, volcanic ash and overflowing rivers was amazing.  I still have many memories of that time, even though I was only 10 years old.

I often think of my own kids when memories like this come up.  What will they be remembering 29 years from now.  What moments will help define their childhood? 

Growing up in Eugene, going to the University of Oregon events was a big part of my childhood.  A lot of my own defining moments and memories come from that time.  Football games, basketball games, track meets, the Olympic Trials and Fern Ridge Reservoir all played a big part of those defining years for me.  I was fortunate enough to meet a lot of my athletic heros when I was a kid, with all the sports events that took place in Eugene.  I was in a running group with Alberto Salazar and Rudy Chapa.  I visited with and jogged warm up laps with Carl Lewis.  I ran with (if you can call it that) and helped tutor Henry Rono (when I was in college).  Henry was the world record holder in 4 running events, and the first person in history to win the NCAA National Cross Country Championships 3 times.  As a 10 year old my family attended every day of the Olympic trials at Hayward field, which was heaven for a Track and Field buff like myself.  I met and got autographs from dozens of my idols.  Some of the more notable people I met were: Wilma Rudolf, Brian Oldfield (who invented the spin technique still used in the shot put), Mac Wilkins, Al Oerter, Renaldo Nehemiah, Edwin Moses, Greg Foster, Stanley Floyd, James Sanford, Matt Centrowitz, Bill McChesney, etc.  If you are a Track and Field fan, you will know these people.  

The other things that I clearly remember from my childhood are camping and water skiing in the summers, and snow skiing in the winters.  I am going to continue those traditions with my own children, and hopefully they will enjoy their memories as much as I enjoy mine.