It was 21 years ago yesterday, 1/17/1994, when the earthquake struck. We lived in Chatsworth at the time, about 5 1/2 miles from the epicenter in Reseda. They called it the Northridge earthquake. It was Martin Luther King Day, a Monday. At 4:32am, our water bed started bouncing us around pretty violently. As we sat up to hug each other, the heavy oak headboard came down on our pillows. A miracle? It was pitch black so we didnt even notice it until we got the flashlight. The bed had lots of leaks, the shaking went on and on, and the sounds of destruction were tremendous. Then it was still. Our condo building was destroyed, two people had died, and there wasnt a fence or wall standing for miles on end. I was able to watch TV on our portable unit that was plugged into the car. No electricity, no water, no gas. Just total regional destruction. The previous Saturday we had our house-warming and received a lot of glassware and crystal. All of that was now on the floor as I ran around, barefoot, trying to get my kids safe and assess the damage. I ran over that glass at least 4 times and not one cut was received. A miracle? Nikki had spent the night at her aunts house and Aimee slept in Nikkis room. The standing chest of drawers had walked its way across the room and had fallen against the wall, directly over the bed with Aimee in it. A miracle? Shaun had a huge crack in the wall behind his head in bed. I could stick three fingers into it. Everything had crashed to the floor yes he was safe in bed. A miracle? That day holds so many memories for so many. Mine are just a few. Some are truly horrendous. I consider myself lucky.
Posted on: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 23:07:19 +0000
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