It's May 18! Maybe if you weren't in Washington or Oregon in 1980 the day won't mean much to you. But every time May 18 comes around I think of Mount St. Helens and coming out of a movie theater to a crazy world. Even though we were a few hundred miles away, ash fell from the sky, the roads and other surfaces were covered and my stepmother had to drive us home from the cinema with her head hanging out the window and a scarf tied around her nose and mouth. Once we went back to school there was no recess and we were issued those cheap masks for standing in the bus queue.
I still have a little bottle of the ash. Feeling particularly crafty, my stepmother gave me an old candy sprinkles bottle that I filled with the ash and she attached a ribbon and a small fake flower to it. Very stylish memento indeed! 30 years later it remains proudly displayed with my other treasures in my room.
Fellow hockey fans will appreciate that May 18 is also the birthday of my favourite hockey player, Jari Kurri. I started my hockey fandom in awe of the amazing Edmonton Oilers and indeed I do value the unsung, non-celebrity heroes. The Oilers were an incredibly fluid team, thanks in great part to Kurri's talent. I particularly loved watching his interaction with Esa Tikkanen...yeah, while everyone else was watching Gretzky.
Happy May 18 everyone!
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