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July 21, 2009
Life : I remember more
It is common in our culture to talk about certain events as being so overwhelming that you always remember where you were when you first heard about them. Thinking about the moon landing being commemorated this week got me thinking about the other marker events I have experienced.
I don’t recall where I was when I heard that President Kennedy was shot – I was a bit too young to appreciate that. I do however remember sitting in front of the TV watching the funeral procession on TV (and being surprised that there was more to the tune of the funeral march than the phrase that everyone hums – dum dum de-dum, da de-dum de-dum de-dum).
As noted last week, I do recall exactly where I was for the launch, landing, and moonwalk for Apollo 11.
I also recall exactly where I was when I heard about the accident on Apollo 13. I had gone to bed; but was having trouble sleeping so I went out to the kitchen to get some water and saw my mother watching the TV (turned down low). We stayed up together for a bit watching the coverage.
I recall where I was when I heard that that Nixon resigned. I was at a Christian camp that week, and one of my cabin-mates told me as I was walking back to the cabin while he was headed to the common building to see if he could get more details.
I recall where I was when I heard about the Challenger accident – I was at my office at GCC . There were lots of TVs around the office (leftovers from our videogame days), and most of us spent the rest of the afternoon watching coverage together.
I recall where I was when I heard about 9/11. I had just gotten up that morning (early Pacific Time – I went into the office early those days to have some overlap with our UK office) and tuned on Headline News as usual. I was tuned in when the second plane hit (Anne was also awake at that point, although we can’t remember if I woke her up or not). It was a tough decision to stop watching the unfolding drama and go into the office (and as it turns out my company gave us all permission to head home if we wanted).
Posted by Steven at July 21, 2009 05:00 AM
Comments
I was in Miss Reeves 2nd grade class when Kennedy was shot. We watched it over and over on closed-circuit TV.
I was a camp in Colorado for the launch and moon landing. There was a TV at the boys' camp, so they got to watch it live, then they drove us all down in our PJ's to watch the re-run coverage.
My dad sent an e-mail (or did I talk to him?) saying that he had just watched a plane fly into the World Trade Center. I thought he was talking about a twin prop type plane...not a jetliner!
Did watch the second plane hit, and the towers fall. My parents both lost friends/acquaintances that day. I remember how eerily quiet it was with all aircraft grounded.
Posted by: Anne at July 26, 2009 04:36 PM
Kennedy - I was in a classroom and the teacher announced the shooting. I was later in the parking lot of a department store, listening to the radio, when the announcement came that he'd died.
I was sitting on the edge of my bed for a lot of the stuff on 9/11. Would not move to go to work, just glued to the set.
I was watching the Challenger liftoff at work (Montage in Concord MA). A group of us were clustered around the set. I still remember the silence after one of the negineers said 'it's not supposed to do *that*.'
Nixon we watched at college. Cheering every word.
Curiously, I don't remember Apollo 13 coverage at all. I was very interested to learn what would happen, but I don't know at what point I heard the news.
Posted by: roland at July 27, 2009 09:31 AM
