my family lived through 3 severe mudslides (causing structural damage to our houses) when i was growing up in the hills and canyons of los angeles. the last one demolished the house in sherman oaks where i spent my teen years, the property was condemned and the city came in and bulldozed the house after a couple years of lawsuits. i see these pictures of huge boulders in topanga canyon and remember looking at much bigger ones in our driveway and pool. the first landslide that we had in sherman oaks, the swimming pool was completely filled with earth (which was kinda cool because we had our skateboards in there as soon as the water and mud were out. san fernando valley…empty pool…skateboards and bmx’s? duuuuuuuude). when we hired a backhoe operator to dig it out, we discovered there was a CAR in there as well. (i don’t think it was the first car in that pool though, the previous owner, keith moon, had reportedly driven one in there for fun).
so i woke up this morning to footage of these massive landslides, and i think to myself, how lucky we are to have made it out of those things alive. i remember the panic of watching tons and tons of earth come cascading towards my father (and feeling the earth shake as never before). and i remember several panicked hours when the fire department and LAPD called from the knobhill house, half the place under earth, and my mom could not be located. (she was off having dinner).
it’s a little painful to watch that footage.
Count your blessings. There has got to be a reason why we are still here. I remember how your brother cried when he discovered that I was still at school. To see him with tears in his eyes meant only one thing to me-something had happened to you. What a joy it was to find out that it was only the house. How blessed I am to have 2 sons!