Nostalgia (but not the good kind!)

from Shelly (again)

It's said that some events get burned into our memories and we forever recall where we were when we heard the news about them. So, where were you when...

Alan Shepard became the first American in space? 5/5/61

My family was blithely unaware of the need for a second mortgage to pay for an additional bedroom and my oldest sister's college career. [In other words, my brother was not quite 8 and I was about two years from conception.]

John Kennedy was killed? 11/22/63

My mom had just gotten out of the hospital after giving birth...to me. I don't remember much, but she says she heard the news on the radio, and since I was an astoundingly uncaring audience, she told the postman. He told her, "That isn't even funny, lady," and hurried away on his route. I wonder: did he ever apologize to my mom?

Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed? 4/4/68

I was three-and-a-half. This didn't penetrate my consciousness. We were dealing with slightly more immediate issues inside the family (heart attacks, blood diseases, deaths), but I'm sure my siblings remember some of this. Oddly, we've never discussed it. I'll ask, the next time we're together.

Robert Kennedy was killed? 6/6/68

See above. My parents were staunch Republicans, so I'm not sure how personally upset they were by this. Still, they surely mourned. Another one to bring up at the next family gathering (to avoid an argument, if nothing else).

Neil Armstrong took that first step on the moon? 7/20/69

I was five-and-a-half-ish. I do remember sitting in the living room in front of our old black-and-white TV. I don't really "remember" watching it--the replays have eradicated personal memories--but I remember how excited my dad was (my brother, too?), and the silence when Armstrong flew off the ladder. And the cheering at Mission Control.

John Lennon was killed? 12/8/80

I was 16. I woke up with the radio on, and the lead news item was the Lennon shooting. Sadly, I wasn't sure exactly who he was, beyond the guy singing all those new, weird songs from an album called "Double Fantasy." For the next 4 or so years, I read everything about the Beatles, made obsessive lists, and generally got a bit OCD about my lack of previous knowledge.

Ronald Reagan was shot? 3/30/81

I was 17. We heard about it over the speaker in Social Studies class, the one that I was Teacher's Aide in, not the one I was learning in. I have a "sense" that JT Arb-thn-t and I stared at each other for awhile. It was weird, because no one knew what to do. So we just continued working on our assignments. My parents were upset, I kind of remember that. But I didn't like Reagan, so I think I probably was very juvenile about it: "too bad they missed" or something.

[I'm adding one]
The Challenger Explosion: 1/28/86
I was 22, a senior in college, engaged to be married the following summer to Beast. Our class (both of us were in it) had just finished seeing a movie in our Film Criticism class, which was held in The Pit (snack bar) at school because it had a big-screen TV. As we walked down the hall past Mike Gallant's office, he looked more serious than I had ever seen him look in four years, even having worked for him the previous summer about 80 hours/week. He was listening to the radio. We stood there stunned listening to the reports, and then someone (me? Beast?) said, "Why don't we go turn on the TV we were just watching?" People were upset because we turned off their stupid reruns to see the news. We just gaped, and cried eventually.

The Berlin Wall came down? 11/9/89

I was not-quite 26. Heck of a birthday present!! It was surreal. Amazing. Almost like it was a TV-movie. Peter Jennings just standing there as concrete was chopped up and people cheered. I was thrilled that the Eastern Bloc was finally coming out of the dark.

The US invaded Iraq the first time? 1/17/91

I was 27 and working in my Job From Hell. It was all-CNN, all the time at our house, and a co-worker kept talking about her friend's son who was there. I don't remember the actual invasion, but since I worked in a predominantly Jewish community, there was a lot of concern about family, lots of discussion of gas masks, and lots of talk about Scud missiles. Oh, and of course, Arthur Kent--poor man! He was awfully gorgeous though. The library was running a lot of ESL courses for Russian Jews, and most of the learning-English classes that winter revolved around the "war."

[another add]
Columbine High School 4/20/1999

I was 35. I grew up 10 miles from Columbine. We competed against them in everything (sports to chicks). Many of the kids at my church went to Columbine. My neighbor called me and said, "Cat., turn on the news. Right now." I just sat there as the situation unfolded all afternoon. Sparky, at age 6, was at school. I shoved him outside to play when he got home because it was still up-in-the air. I'll never forget the boy falling out of the round library window. Never.

The US was attacked on 9/11/01?

I was 37. I was at church doing attendance, when Beast called me and told me to go home and watch the news. He told me why, but I couldn't fathom it. So I left for home, dialed the news station on the radio, and listened as Peter Jennings (again) subsided into silence when the first tower fell. I nearly got run over by another driver who was racing home to see the news. I just pulled over across from his house and sobbed.
Our new pastor had arrived that weekend. They didn't have TV service, so he and his wife came over and watched the news with me. She was desperate to get to the grocery store (really panicked), and worried about the schools. They were all on lockdown, but I guess a lot of kids were picked up by their parents. I didn't want Sparky seeing the news, so I watched all day, picked him up about 15 minutes early, and left the TV off until after he went to bed. The school had told the kids, "something bad had happened." Unfortunately, parents there to pick up their kids spilled a lot more than that. I'm just lucky enough to have a clueless kid, who really didn't pick up anything but the fact that something weird was going on.
I emailed my bro-in-law, who lives in Manhattan, and waited and prayed for him and his girlfriend.
My niece and her then-boyfriend were in flight from London to Chicago, was turned back and sent to Iceland, and then Holland, where they spent the night in a perfectly lovely (very expensive) hotel. A big deal for two broke kids. They flew home the next day. He had never been on a plane, or left England before. Probably hasn't done either since!
My inlaws were in Canada. They didn't have a clue what was going on till late in the evening. They couldn't get home, and they couldn't get hold of anyone.
I remember all the emails and contacts from people around the world saying how sorry they were, and how awful it was.

[another addition]
Iraq War 3/19/03
I was at work. We were stranded with no communication devices...except the internet. Surreal to see it on my PC screen. Someone finally brought a TV in for us (just like 9/11/01). Quite soon, I was sure this was a bad idea, but I tell you what: I understand the adrenaline rush of war much better after watching the troops rumble across the desert.


Having written all of this, what strikes me is all those other 'smaller' tragedies that I can place myself for: the shooting at the U.S. Capitol, Jeffrey Dahmer arrest, the OJ murders, Anwar Sadat's murder, Bhopal, Chernobyl, the Munich Olympics (boy, do I remember that!), Somalia, the San Francisco earthquake, Waco, Jim Jones, Tiananmen (I'd been right there 5 years previous)....