Ah, I remember it well.

The months and weeks and days of slow buildup. The steam plumes. The bulge.

Then the eruption of Mount St. Helens. The biggest thing that had happened in my part of the world during my short life.

It was all encompassing. It was thrilling.

There were many deaths, but not as many as if it had happened on a weekday with 300 loggers on duty nearby.

There was infrastructure destruction, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed.

There was eco destruction, but even that has brought forth new life.

No, the real devastation to this area, and to this country, began much later in 1980.