Every year on this day, I think of two things: Angie's birthday, and the Challenger space shuttle. I was in 2nd grade, just like Elsie, and our class got to go to the library to watch the launching. Boulton Elementary had a kiva in the library that dipped down about 4 steps in the center of the room. I was sitting on one of the middle steps, and I'm sure we were packed in there like sardines. As we all know, it was a very exciting launch because there was a teacher on the shuttle. Sitting there, I felt very secure. The school library was one of my favorite places because of Mrs. Smith, the librarian. We had the same dress- a blue levi one with ruffles up the front on either side of the buttons. She wore hers with a blue jade necklace and earrings that made it look like an indian dress. "I have that very same dress," she proudly told me. And I felt proud too. (If she really felt proud.) We sat there and waited, until suddenly, there was a long white stream of smoke in the air, and all of the teachers were gasping in surprise. This stream of smoke showed over and over again before any adult could talk to explain to us what had happened. As someone explained that it had exploded, he/she must have told us this was something we would always remember- where we were when the Challenger blew up. And I knew I would always remember it because it was Angie's birthday, and I wouldn't forget that. So those two things are forever intertwined in my mind on January 28th every year. Do you remember where YOU were when it blew up?
2 comments:
What do I remember? Nothing at all. It's something I can't ever really appreciate and never feel the appropriate amount of grief about it. Makes me wonder if we'll ever be able to convey what 9/11 felt like and also explains why the younger generations in the BOM kept falling away! The personal experience certainly has the greater impact.
It's very interesting that this event is permanently burned into your memory because I am old and I have only a small memory of it. Maybe we are more impressionable as children because I have a very sharp memory of the sixth grade when pres Kennedy was shot. I thought it was the end of the world for a while. Steve (or was it Brooke?) was right about how difficult it is to transmit feelings to those who didn't witness it firsthand. I guess that's part of the value of the Holy Ghost. Janene
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