Worst Seat In The House: It was a big deal

Going through life there are those times that you can remember exactly where you were when you heard about certain events. I can assure you that a majority of these events were tragic in nature.

I remember in November of 1963 when Mr. Wilsey returned to the 6th grade classroom and told us that President Kennedy had been shot and killed in Dallas. I remember where I was when the Challenger space shuttle had exploded. And I know almost exactly to the step where I was when I first heard about an airplane flying into the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001.

I seem to have vivid memories hearing about the deaths of family members or friends. I know what I was doing and where I was at the time. Those things stick with me for some reason. It is for sure etched into the old memory bank and periodically I flash back to that time and remember what the emotions were at the time.

I can tell you about the memories I had about the deaths of political leaders, rock stars and athletes that died way too early in life for a lot of different reasons. If a person means something to you I guarantee that the memory will be a lot more vivid.

I have reached that age where I can honestly say that I have witnessed a lot of history. During the 1960’s there were some turbulent times to say the least. Protests of the Vietnam War, assassinations or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy and race riots in major cities made one wonder how we would be able to survive.

The Cold War between the US and Soviet Union was scary to say the least. The US was fighting a war in Vietnam with men and armament while the Soviets were sending arms to the North Vietnamese.

In the summer of 1969 there was an event that was a bit different since it was a positive undertaking. The competition with the Soviet Union was in their space programs as well as showing each other who had the ‘baddest’ weapons.

For some reason, the moon seemed to be the place to go for both nations. The Soviets sent up an unmanned space craft while the US sent Apollo 11 with three astronauts that would make every youngster wonder if they could fly to the moon.

On Sunday, July 20, 1969 I remember sitting around the TV set, nothing like we have today since it was probably a black and white set, and waited with my mom and dad for the moment when man would walk on the moon.

There were a lot of things that my folks felt were important and being a witness to history wasn’t something they wanted to miss or take for granted. So there we were in the living room of our house where I am writing this column today and watching in awe as Neil Armstrong left the Eagle space capsule and stepped on the moon.

I for one would look at the moon a little differently from that point forward. I know that not everyone had the opportunity to witness the events of that day and I’m happy my parents knew the importance of that moment and made sure I did too. I can tell you it was a very big deal and still is to this day.