Earthquake

Mother's remaining pieces of china. The bowl is from aunt Amy's china pattern and the lid is from mother's.

The few remaining pieces of Aunt Amy's Bavarian china.

Our recent earthquake was immediately designated a 5.6, quickly upgraded to 5.8 but finally came in at a modest 5.4. My multi-story office building in Orange Co did quite a bit of shaking, creaking and groaning but there was no damage - unless you count a few frayed nerves. I called home immediately - or rather tried to because all phones, even cell phones, were out for quite a while. I wanted to make sure DH was fine and wondered how my mother's and aunt's few surving pieces of china had fared. Mother had a service for 12 of Hertel Jacob Bavarian china and her sister had Green Leaves Bavarian china. They bought it at the same time and lost almost all of the pieces at the same time in the 6.6 Sylmar quake of 1971. Mother had enough pieces to give me a complete service for 1 and the lid to her serving bowl. Aunt Amy also gave me a complete service for 1 and her serving bowl which had lost its lid. Though the lid and bowl are no longer a match, they look okay together and that's how I use them. Every so often DH and I use the dishes and they mean so much to me because of all the family history associated with them.

The networks covered our minor quake extensively and I remember one woman saying everything shook for five (5!) minutes - nope, more like 30 seconds which actually is quite a long time earthquake-wise. Have you ever experienced earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes?

I should add that we were living in Washington state at the time of the '71 quake. My sister, who didn't live too far from our parents, said everything in her kitchen fell out of the cupboards. One of the few items not broken was a gift bottle of alcohol and though she didn't drink, that day she said she did.

One man's trash, another man's treasure?

When my mother gave me this picture of myself taken when I was three, my aunt told her to, "throw away that ugly frame, just give her the picture." But mother said she liked the frame and ignored her sister. Some months later my aunt gave me a lovely silver frame and told me to put this picture in it and throw away "that tacky thing." Obviously I listen and take suggestions as well as my mother did. ;-)

The frame doesn't "go" with anything but I couldn't bear to throw it away. I was three when the picture was taken and figure the frame is about my age. No sense in getting rid of things just because they're old, right? I do wonder where mother bought the frame though.

Remembering

This was taken at Griffith Park, Los Angeles. My cousin is on the left and I'm on the right. I am thirteen here - reached my full height 5'9" when I was 12. My four-month older cousin was eventually 6'.My cousin, Aunt Amy's son, was the closest thing to a big brother I had. Lee was a math whiz from the get-go. When we were in first grade I remember my grandpa asking me if I knew how old he was. When I said no, he said he’d give me a clue and told me the year he was born. That didn’t help me at all but when he asked my cousin the same thing, he figured it out.

He joined the air force and was sent to Viet Nam. While stationed in Pennsylvania, he met his future wife and though the marriage produced two children it didn’t last. He later met a divorced woman and fell in love. Her ex-husband decided if he couldn’t have her no one else could either and shot my cousin, leaving him paralyzed and brain damaged. He lived for some time in a convalescent home before dying. It still sounds surreal to recall this. The funeral for him was horrid. The pastor was new to my aunt’s church and got my cousin’s middle name wrong. There is no grief worse than that of losing a child no matter the age. My sister lost her only boy and said the pain really began in the second year – the first year she was just numb.

Aunt Amy stayed in touch with Lee's ex-wife who eventually moved back to Pennsylvania, got a job and planned on moving back to California when she could retire. When that time came, my aunt wanted her to move in with her – she looked forward to the company and the ex would need a place to stay. That didn’t happen because the ex developed cancer and within a couple of months was dead. Lee's son lives in Pennsylvania, his daughter in California. They both keep in touch with their grandma, my aunt. Remembering is a mixed bag - joy, comfort and pain.

Memories

Aunt Amy, Echo Park 1948Amy was the sister closest to my mother in just about every way and more like a second mother to me than an aunt. Growing up in Minnesota she dreamed of moving to Los Angeles and eventually did. She and my uncle bought a house near Echo Park and lived there with their two sons for some years. Later they moved to the San Fernando Valley where she now lives alone; her husband and eldest son have passed away and her younger son lives in Utah with his wife and family.

Echo Park has gone through a period of gentrification and is now home to artists, musicians and bohemian types. The last time we were all there was for a family potluck picnic; I always loved picnics there because the lotus blossoms in the lake were so beautiful and the paddle boats they had for rent were so much fun.