Life was so good in the days before.
I had no idea there wouldn’t be more..
My future needed school so I always did my best,
But now I sit in sorrow seeing my dad lie at rest.
The great quake hit west of the road called I-5.
And I have yet to learn who is dead or alive.

My life was all planned and was mine alone,But now I am anxious because my future’s  unknown.
If we would have listened to the tales of the past.
My dad could have lived, his life would not have ended so fast.
Our home could have been built  in a different place.
And we should have drawn up a plan just in case. 

My life was moving along as it should,
However, after the disaster I was not sure if it still would,
I had to change, I had to act fast,
To prevent my dreams from becoming things of the past. 
We lived in the middle of the Cascadia subduction zone,
That was a mistake for a place we called home. 

Though life was hard , it had now become  harder.
I was going to live life without a wonderful father.
Flashbacks fly through my mind of  “The Really Big One.”
The world around me was being unwound and undone.
As the earthquake shook the house out of the ground.
It  caused physical pain and then my heart started to pound.

The life that I knew was coming to an end,
I knew it was happening, I’m not going to pretend.
My life was not long but what I had it was grand
What’s this, a rescue team, or did my damaged mind misunderstand?
The earth had been shaking past  the four minute mark.
Then the tsunami hit and my whole world went dark.