ANNIVERSARIES

Thirty-four years ago last Sunday (May 18) Mt. St. Helen's errupted, the resulting boom (and eventually ash) reached us here on Vancouver Island.

How do I know that it was 34 years ago?  Because it coincided with the day that we moved into our "new" home in the Cowichan Valley.   The boom happened while I was suffering a migraine headache, in bed, with my head covered against the light.  There was a second boom, which actually shook the house (as did the first one) and my initial thought was that the moving truck had been backed
into the roof of the house!  It was only later in the afternoon that we heard about the volcanic eruption.
It's a date I will never forget.

Twenty-one years ago today, my mother died.  She'd been ill for about six weeks, with various diagnoses as to the problem.  It was only one week before she died that the real reason for her pain was discovered.  She spent that week in hospital, not wanting to risk the surgical procedures which may (or not) have fixed the problem.  She was 87 years old and accepted that it was her time.  I still miss her.

Nine years ago on May 25, my first great-grandchild was born.  Since then there have been three more, but the date of the first one marked another stage in my life, from parent, to grandparent to great grandparent.