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In the blink of an eye...
Jan. 28th, 2003 11:02 pmThere are moments in each generation that nearly everyone can remember exactly where they were when...
For my mother it was when John F. Kennedy was shot. I even know where I was because of this. My mother was watching TV and ironing clothes. I was lying in my crib, less than a year old.
Until Sept. 11th, for my generation it was Jan. 29th 1986, when the Challenger Space Shuttle blew up. For me it has an added personal dimension. I was working clerical job at Pacific Telesis in San Francisco. We were listening to the launch while working. We sat in stunned silence when it happened. Then I went to call my mother. My mother has always been a big supporter of NASA. She even brags that while I was being born Alan Sheppard was orbiting the earth.
When I called her office in Oklahoma City, they told me she had gone to the state hospital in Purcell and that my dad was very ill. I called the hospital and spoke with my dad's doctor before my mother even made it to the hospital. It seems he had pneumonia, again, and that he might not make it. I told the doctor that would be the best thing for him. He agreed. When my mother showed up, they had the exact same conversation. The body of John D. Atkins died the next day. I was on a plane to Oklahoma in the morning.
You see, I never did follow anything about the Challenger after that. We were lost in the past for a while. My dad died on May 31st 1975 -- but now his body had finally died too. The relief was overwhelming. Laughing and crying simultaneously, we could not help ourselves. I gave my dad's eulogy -- it explains some of story:
( Read more... )
For my mother it was when John F. Kennedy was shot. I even know where I was because of this. My mother was watching TV and ironing clothes. I was lying in my crib, less than a year old.
Until Sept. 11th, for my generation it was Jan. 29th 1986, when the Challenger Space Shuttle blew up. For me it has an added personal dimension. I was working clerical job at Pacific Telesis in San Francisco. We were listening to the launch while working. We sat in stunned silence when it happened. Then I went to call my mother. My mother has always been a big supporter of NASA. She even brags that while I was being born Alan Sheppard was orbiting the earth.
When I called her office in Oklahoma City, they told me she had gone to the state hospital in Purcell and that my dad was very ill. I called the hospital and spoke with my dad's doctor before my mother even made it to the hospital. It seems he had pneumonia, again, and that he might not make it. I told the doctor that would be the best thing for him. He agreed. When my mother showed up, they had the exact same conversation. The body of John D. Atkins died the next day. I was on a plane to Oklahoma in the morning.
You see, I never did follow anything about the Challenger after that. We were lost in the past for a while. My dad died on May 31st 1975 -- but now his body had finally died too. The relief was overwhelming. Laughing and crying simultaneously, we could not help ourselves. I gave my dad's eulogy -- it explains some of story:
( Read more... )
