Thirty nine years ago today, on May 18th, 1980 at 8:32am an earthquake beneath Mount St. Helens triggered one of the most dramatic moments in American history. The eruption and landslide killed 57 people, completely annihilated the surrounding forest and blasted away over 1,000 feet of mountaintop. Even though I wasn't alive at the time, I grew up hearing many stories about the eruption. My parents were living in Portland in 1980 and showed me pictures when I was young of their cars and rose bushes covered in grey ash. They created an image for me what it felt like watching residue fall from the air like snow and explained how it was hard to breathe outside. We also made several trips up to the mountain in my childhood to view the crater and volcanic monument now established in honor of the event, slowly over the years watching the area regrow and regenerate new life.
Never trailing far behind the countless stories of the moment when the blast took place were the fables of Harry Truman. Harry Truman was the owner and caretaker of Mount St. Helens Lodge at Spirit Lake who refused to leave his home during the eruption and is assumed to have perished during the event and to be buried under 150ft of volcanic debris. I remember hearing his story at the "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" museum on the bayfront in Newport growing up and always being fascinated by it. There was a movie theater at Ripley's that would play Harry Truman's story on repeat and I remember as a little girl sitting there watching it over and over again, astonished - stunned that someone would sacrifice their own life in such a way - in the face of such imminent danger. It seemed stubborn and foolish to me. I simply couldn't grasp WHY & HOW someone could see the value in doing such a thing.
My parents also had this cool hat growing up (possibly something they purchased on one of our trips up to Mount St. Helens) which I came to love and acquired sometime after college. "The Spirit of Harry Truman Lives On" it read. I never really gave it much thought - I just liked the hat for it's colors, local flare and vintage appeal. But more recently as I've donned the hat to go out and work in the yard, I've given it more thought. I've spent some time sitting on our deck, staring out at Clear Creek Canyon and Mt. Hood, and in turn gazing down at the cap in my lap. And I have to say that after only spending 6 months out here in the country (I believe actually now thinking about it that 6 month anniversary ALSO falls on today), I understand Harry Truman more now than I ever did before.
This Pacific Northwest countryside is pure magic, and watching the winter melt into spring has been mesmerizing. Birds are starting to inhabit our birdhouses. Lilacs, bleeding hearts and trillium have popped up and commanded our attention. Bunnies, quail and lizards have been found running around - and sometimes even playing - in our yard. And as hard as it is to leave this natural wonderland to go into work for a few hours, I can only imagine how your heart would hurt at the thought of leaving it behind forever. Leaving the animals to fend for themselves, the trees to burn, the landscape to be forever changed. After only 6 months of living out here, I feel like abandoning this place to be destroyed would feel like deserting family and one of the things I love the most - and that would be soul crushing.
I can't say at my age I would make the same choice. In the face of danger I would most likely pack up my pups and head out of town. But it would be a hard choice to make. And if I was Harry Truman, at the age of 83, and had owned and lived at Monte Vista for 50 years...would I choose to stay and perish on the land I adore and yearn for, where I feel more at home than any place I've ever lived in my entire life? Maybe. It's likely. Jeff & I have both already decided that this is where we want our remains to rest long after we're gone. We feel more at peace and like better humans out here on this land and I can't imagine a better place to live out eternity. Maybe that, with time, will change. But at the current moment I can only see our connection and admiration for this land growing stronger, and our roots getting deeper and Harry Truman's crazy logic continuing to not really seem that crazy anymore...
R.I.P. Harry
Never trailing far behind the countless stories of the moment when the blast took place were the fables of Harry Truman. Harry Truman was the owner and caretaker of Mount St. Helens Lodge at Spirit Lake who refused to leave his home during the eruption and is assumed to have perished during the event and to be buried under 150ft of volcanic debris. I remember hearing his story at the "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" museum on the bayfront in Newport growing up and always being fascinated by it. There was a movie theater at Ripley's that would play Harry Truman's story on repeat and I remember as a little girl sitting there watching it over and over again, astonished - stunned that someone would sacrifice their own life in such a way - in the face of such imminent danger. It seemed stubborn and foolish to me. I simply couldn't grasp WHY & HOW someone could see the value in doing such a thing.
 |
| Harry Truman at Spirit Lake |
I can't say at my age I would make the same choice. In the face of danger I would most likely pack up my pups and head out of town. But it would be a hard choice to make. And if I was Harry Truman, at the age of 83, and had owned and lived at Monte Vista for 50 years...would I choose to stay and perish on the land I adore and yearn for, where I feel more at home than any place I've ever lived in my entire life? Maybe. It's likely. Jeff & I have both already decided that this is where we want our remains to rest long after we're gone. We feel more at peace and like better humans out here on this land and I can't imagine a better place to live out eternity. Maybe that, with time, will change. But at the current moment I can only see our connection and admiration for this land growing stronger, and our roots getting deeper and Harry Truman's crazy logic continuing to not really seem that crazy anymore...
R.I.P. Harry
 |
| "If the mountain goes, I'm going with it. You couldn't pull me out with a mule team. That mountain's part of Truman and Truman's part of that mountain." - Harry R. Truman |
