I think that in my lifetime there have been maybe four or five things that stand out so much that I know precisely where I was and what I was feeling when I heard the news.
1. 9/11. Nothing comes close.
2. The shuttle crash in 1986.
3. Reagan getting shot (I was on the school bus when I heard about it).
4. Elvis dying.
5. The U.S. Olympic hockey game against the Soviets.
So I got to thinking, are there 5 moments in my life that I can remember so clearly, even to this day, that I can recall exactly where I was and what I was feeling? Well, lets give it a try...
1. 9/11. And Joe is right. Nothing is even close.
2. The Shuttle Crash in 2003.
3. Mark McGwire's 62nd Home Run in 1998.
4. The 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. This one wasn't something I heard through the news, but lived through it. And it's still one of my earliest memories.
I really can't think of any others. But I'm young. Nothing particularly iconic, besides 9/11, has happened during my lifetime. No deaths as important as Elvis', no amazing worldwide sports moment like the Miracle on Ice. The Berlin Wall came down, but I was still too young to really know what was going on.
Anyways, I'd love to hear what anyone else has. What's your list of things that you can remember so clearly, its like it happened yesterday?
5 comments:
I thought for sure you'd remember being at the A's game when Ricky Henderson tied the stolen base record. 938 and counting. You even have a poster...
I remember where I was when Kennedy was shot (2nd Grade class - it was a Catholic school and we all prayed for the 1st and last Catholic president). Also I remember where I was when Neil Armstrong took that 1st step on the moon (in the living room with the rest of the family). And lying in bed and being jolted awake in the 1973 Sylmar earthquake, and just havng left the office in the 1989 Loma Prieta quake.
I remember I was there for 938, but I really don't have a great memory of the moment. I'm pretty sure I didn't really know what was going on at the time...
1. Heath Ledger dying. I'm not sure why this hit me so close, it just did.
2. 9/11, not because I felt like it was as big as it was, but the aftermath really makes it hard to forget.
3. Phillies winning the World Series. This was pretty recent, but it has the making for a story I'll tell my kids, just like my dad recalled their last time winning he was watching with his father. I guess I gotta pop out a kid before it happens again.
4. Hearing that Princess Di died. (I seem to focus on celebrity deaths.)
5. It's probaby going to be Michael Jackson's death. It's extremely vivid and would also argue it's too recent to say, but I can't remember where I was when I heard about Farrah, Billy Mays or Patrick Swazee and I acutally like some of them.
Man I'm morbid.
9-11 tops the list, the 1989 earthquake (I was in the middle of it), when the space shuttle, Challenger blew up, when the 2nd space shuttle blew up, when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.
Post a Comment