I was speaking at a conference on Grandparents Raising Grandchildren in Lexington, Kentucky, leading a session on elder abuse. I was scheduled to do the same program in the morning and repeated in the afternoon. We were interrupted in the morning, with reports that things were happening in New York, by lunch time it was obvious that the situation was serious. We organizers gathered to confer on what to do with the afternoon agenda, many people left, we had speakers from out of town who realized they were stranded in town with closed airports and rental cars sold out. We tried doing the afternoon workshops, things were very strange, one speaker refused to leave his hotel room, I entertained his audience, but I was really not a master of his subject. We adjourned a couple of hours early.
The days that followed were very unusual, we didn't officially close the office, but people came and went kind of at random. Stunned and grieving would be the best description.
There are only a couple of "historical" events that I recall where I was and what I was doing when they happened, September 11th is one of them.
I was processing honey on the farm when Elvis died. I was working in a department store when the OJ Simpson criminal trial not-guilty verdicts were announced - the news feed was played over the PA system in the store.
What historical events stand out in your memory?
RFK being shot (I had just graduated 8th grade that day [catholic school]).
ReplyDeleteMLK being shot and the riots aftermath.
the 1976 bicentennial (I graduated college that year).
the Y2K bullshit.
barack obama inaugurated (how I wish we could do THAT again).
I should add a highlight or two to my list, I was on the banks of the river across from the space center for the first Shuttle Launch.
Delete9/11, about 10.30pm here and Elvis as I was filling the car with petrol but not OJ. Add to mine Princess Diana.
ReplyDeleteAMinP reminded me of Y2K. Home at 2am NYE and the phone still worked and the computer was still connected to the cable and working.
DeletePrincess Diana, I was in my first year of law school, stayed up very late despite needing to be up very early the next morning to drive 82 miles to class.
Deletespouse and I were in pittsburgh PA for a mini-vacation/birthday celebration for me when we learned about princess diana.
DeleteYes, moon landing too, at school.
DeleteJFK assassination, 7th grade
ReplyDeleteMLK assassination, HS, senior year, Spring Break
RFK assassination, the day I graduated from HS
moon landing
Princess Diana
many others, my memory of the past is better than my short-term
Moon Landing, how can that be 50 years ago?
DeleteAmazing, isn't it. I was on my last "family" trip. I was WAY too old to be traveling with my parents for a month.
DeletejFK, MLK, and RFK. And John Glen in orbit.
ReplyDelete