Oddly Enough

The following is my best recollection of the events I experienced while operating an airport livery shuttle during the Northridge Earthquake of January 17, 1994. Photo Courtesy of JW Griffin Like most mornings the monotony of waking up at 2:45 am was not at all what I considered fun.  This was the start of what I knew to be a very long day. On the road four to six days a week up to fourteen hours and three hundred miles per day, life became one long van trip around Southern California. It’s funny and strange how taking to the highways and meeting at the very least six new people every single day could become so addicting.  The idea of being a driver as a means of employment was not something I put much thought into. Unemployment has a way of directing ones decisions out of necessity but this turned out to be a life changing experience.  What I didn't expect was the beauty the Southland has to offer. Considering the people, the landscape, architecture...

In my perfect world, I would have worked for my Dad. He wasn't a business owner as far as I knew, but he lived considerably well for his circumstance as I understood it to be. Dad, Pettibone Bruses Collard, provided me with my very first idea of what it was like for a man to create his living conditions to his own satisfaction. First and foremost, he was married to a woman whom I believe became a friend on a level that made their connection unbreakable. Weekends with Dad were full of new stuff to learn at every turn. From music to food to plain conversation, weekends and summer vacations were always worth the wait. My father lived in a three bedroom, two-and-a-half bath home in the hills of Altadena, California. The entire back of the house was floor-to-ceiling glass with a canyon view of Los Angeles. The backyard garden was designed almost as if it was meant to be a mini-park. This included a seven-foot concrete street lamp that brought old world Los Angeles charm to the en...