It doesn’t seem that long ago…
1/28/89
I was just watching the news and they mentioned that this is the anniversary of the space shuttle disaster – when it blew up. I was remembering that day, 3 years ago, and that I cried. It’s so strange to think how long ago that was. It doesn’t seem that long ago. Pretty soon it’ll be five years and then ten…fifteen…twenty. Will the nation remember that day? I will.
We are all growing so old, so fast. Kate turned twenty on Wednesday and Margaret down the hall turned twenty today. Christie is already twenty and soon Laurie will be, then Pam, then me. It’s strange and sometimes scary to think of how quickly time passes now.
My parents talk of things that happened in the past, 15, 20, 25 years ago. My mom says she can remember where she was when Kennedy was shot. I can remember where I was when I heard about the attempt on Reagan’s life and about the space shuttle. Too soon, I will be saying 15, 20, 25 years ago…
.
steadily skipping stones 
Oh, my, time does go by quickly. I can’t believe it’s already the 10th anniversary of 9/11. That is truly a day none of us will ever forget. I, too, remember the space shuttle disaster (I was living in Switzerland and watched the news with my hand over my mouth), and I remember the day the second space shuttle disintegrated over Texas (I was taking a teaching certification exam). Remember when we were kids and it seemed like time would never pass quickly enough until we were grown up?
I have very little memory of that second space shuttle, basically what you said, just disintegrating. Maybe it’s what the impact was on us, where we were, if we were really paying that much attention – that has as much to do with it as anything.
Time does go by so quickly. I read that journal entry and I thought, yes these memories do lose the sting. The freshness of the feeling fades away. But you don’t forget.
Same with the Oklahoma City bombing…I was in 6th grade walking to the lunch room. I had no idea what was going on but I’ll never forget the day.
Yes, that was terrible! I think that was the first one that really made me understand that these kinds of things can happen here. I was devastated that there was a day care center in the building – all those little kids! And I was shocked and dismayed that an American would do such a thing.
I remember all that stuff and—when Eisenhower was president. Yep, I am that old.
You’re not old!! You’re experienced!
🙂
I do remember the space shuttle quite well but not as vividly as 9/11 when I had turned on the TV after the first plane hit just in time to see the second plane hit. I am horrified that I saw hundreds of people die right before my eyes. I think 50 years will not soften the memory of that day. Fortunately, we also have happy days that we can remember vividly 10 and 20 years later.
9/11 was surreal for me. I put on the radio (which I never do) when I was getting into the shower. The announcer was saying that people were literally walking out of DC. But they made no mention of what had happened and then they went to music! I started switching stations and trying to get information, but there was nothing, just music or commercials. So I took my shower. When I tried calling my Dad later, all the lines were jammed. That’s when I really got worried. I had to go to work, but when I got there, we closed anyway. Then it was just watching it all afternoon and evening on tv. My mom wanted me to come to their house, I guess just because you want to have your people with you. But I needed to be by myself. I can’t imagine how much worse to have seen it happen real-time.
It’s true about the good days! These are things we can cling to, and I think that the world is so much more full of good than bad.
Mine is 9/11. I don’t remember the space shuttle at all. Funny how at 20 life is stretched out before us and every day shrinks so slightly we hardly notice until you wake up at 40ish trying to remember who we were at 20.
You would have been young; I think I was in tenth grade.
I like how you said that, “every day life shrinks so slightly we hardly notice”. You need to have your own blog (if for nothing other than the bread recipes).