Your Red Cross Update

By Veronica Oberholzer

I love the Christmas season and am always looking for new holiday activities. On Saturday, December 20, I took BART from my home in Oakland to the Yerba Buena Center for the Performing Arts in San Francisco to see a 2 p.m. Christmas Ballet.

The theater was a dark cocoon from the outside world during the beautiful performance. In a funny piece of foreshadowing, I thought that anything could be happening in the world outside, and we wouldn’t know about it until the show was over.

After the show, I used the bathroom in case it took me longer to get home than I expected, as well as drank some water and then refilled my water bottle. I had no idea how grateful I’d be for this later. 

When I left the theater, I noticed that San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency employees were directing traffic but assumed that it was just because it was a busy shopping time. However, the closer I got to the BART station on Market Street, the more signs I saw that something was wrong. Businesses were closed, and long lines of people queued along the bus stops. I moved into the shelter of a building and pulled up the BART website and local news on my phone. I learned that power was out for a third of the city and my closest BART station was closed. I began to walk to the next BART station, but found Market Street blocked off due to police activity. I began to realize the potential severity of my situation. It was getting dark, it was raining, public transit was down and traffic was snarled.

I learned this lesson during my first year in college. I left my dorm for what I thought would be a few hours of class but experienced a sudden medical emergency and ended up in the hospital for eleven days. Ever since then, I’ve deeply understood that I am never guaranteed to return home on schedule.

Here are the things I was grateful for having brought on my outing:

• A full water bottle
• A portable phone charger and cord — my phone was only at about 50% when I left the theater
• Sturdy walking shoes — I was jealous of the pretty heels some people wore to the ballet but ended up being very grateful for my practical boots, as I ended up walking almost two extra miles
• Warm clothes, a rain jacket, and an umbrella
• A three days’ supply of the prescription medication I take every night and morning, which would’ve been essential if I had had to spend the night away from home
• Cash, in case the power outage prevented electronic payments
• A mask, which I was grateful for when I eventually got on a packed BART train
• A few small toiletries, including hand lotion, lip balm, hand sanitizing wipes and a travel toothbrush
• A book to read to entertain myself while delayed and save my phone’s battery
• A positive attitude! While this was not how I wanted to spend my evening, I knew I could not change the situation so just focused on what I did have going for me and on making smart next steps. 

This may sound like a lot of supplies, but they fit easily into an 11″x12″ purse. I keep many of these items in a small pouch, ready to tuck into whatever bag I bring that day. I’ve also invested in a travel-sized water bottle, umbrella and charging brick.

There were also a few things I wish I’d had with me:

• The key to my company’s San Francisco office so I would’ve had the option of sheltering there
• More snacks! Restaurants and stores were closed because of the power outage, and half of the delays I faced were in the BART system where there were no options to purchase food.

But you’re probably wondering how my adventure ended. I used my smartphone to determine that the Embarcadero BART station was open and walked the half mile there, being careful when crossing streets where the stoplights were out. To my relief, the station was indeed open, and my line was running. In fact, my train was only four minutes away!

Well, it was actually half an hour until my train arrived, but it did indeed take me back to Oakland. I arrived at home only an hour later than I originally planned to, two hours after the performance ended. I was very grateful both for having been prepared to be stranded longer and that I hadn’t had to be. Just as Red Cross training suggests, being prepared was essential to my peace of mind.