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Your first "remember where you were when it happened" moment

Started by 1995hoo, January 31, 2018, 08:53:10 AM

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1995hoo

Thread idea inspired by Jim's comment in the Challenger thread. I thought the sentence I've highlighted made for an interesting question but I didn't want to derail the thread.

Quote from: Jim on January 29, 2018, 11:56:45 AM
Similar story here to many others of my age.  I was off school because it was regents exam week in New York and I wasn't taking any January exams.  I was watching the launch and it happened while I was making myself some lunch.  I remember being glued to the television the rest of the day.  It was probably the first real "remember where you were when it happened" moment of my life.

Obviously I'm thinking more in terms of national or world events than personal things like buying your first car or when you got an acceptance letter from the university you attended. I guess we know Jim's answer already!  :-D




For me the answer is when Ronald Reagan was shot on Monday, March 30, 1981. I can still see in my mind exactly where I was when I heard the news and exactly what happened next. It was a Monday afternoon when I was in second grade. Fairfax County elementary schools closed two hours early every Monday back then to give teachers planning time (not an issue for junior high and high schools because their teachers don't teach every period). Our mom sent us to CCD (what Protestants call "Sunday school") on Monday afternoon after school, in part because our parish was right next to our school, and that day we had been over in the church for something and we walked back over to the parish center where CCD classes were held. Right as we entered the building, I heard the teacher gasp, "Oh my God, the President's been shot!" They hustled us back to the classroom to pray for the President and I can picture that too. My mom and a couple of the other moms in our neighborhood took turns driving several of us home afterwards and I remember whichever mom was driving that day had the news on the radio–absolutely silent ride home, which never happened with little kids.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.


MNHighwayMan

9/11 is mine. My experience is probably a little different than most people my age, because my elementary school (I was in the fourth grade) just went on as usual that day. None of the teachers or staff said a single word about it. I only learned about it when my mom came and picked me up after school, and I heard about it on the radio. I also remember the day because my parents, who aren't usually news watchers, had CNN on all afternoon/evening.

Now that I've typed this out, I realize that this isn't strictly a "I remember exactly when/where/what I was doing when it actually happened" moment, but I think it counts in spirit. Oh well. ;-)

NWI_Irish96

I was 7 when Reagan was shot.  I remember hearing about it but don't remember where I was when I first heard about it.

For me it would be the Challenger explosion.  I was in the school gym for after lunch recess and someone who was a special needs kid told me the space shuttle just blew up.  I didn't believe him.  My first class after that was math, where we had a computer lab back when TVs doubled as computer monitors.  As soon as I walked into the room and saw a bunch of teachers with the TVs on I realized the kid was telling the truth.
Indiana: counties 100%, highways 100%
Illinois: counties 100%, highways 61%
Michigan: counties 100%, highways 56%
Wisconsin: counties 86%, highways 23%

catch22

Mine is JFK's assassination.  I was in the 7th grade.  During math class, the principal came on the PA and called all the teachers to the office.  My teacher came back a few minutes later, white as a sheet, and told us the president was dead.  We got dismissed from school early.  When I got home, my mother asked my why I was so early, so I told her.  She got just about as white as my teacher did.  Two days later,  I watched Oswald get shot on live TV.

CNGL-Leudimin

Quote from: MNHighwayMan on January 31, 2018, 09:06:20 AM
9/11 is mine. My experience is probably a little different than most people my age, because my elementary school (I was in the fourth grade) just went on as usual that day. None of the teachers or staff said a single word about it. I only learned about it when my mom came and picked me up after school, and I heard about it on the radio. I also remember the day because my parents, who aren't usually news watchers, had CNN on all afternoon/evening.

Now that I've typed this out, I realize that this isn't strictly a "I remember exactly when/where/what I was doing when it actually happened" moment, but I think it counts in spirit. Oh well. ;-)

Another check for 9/11. I was 8 and watching cyclism on TV, and they didn't switch it over channels as they would do back then because of that.
Supporter of the construction of several running gags, including I-366 with a speed limit of 85 mph (137 km/h) and the Hypotenuse.

Please note that I may mention "invalid" FM channels, i.e. ending in an even number or down to 87.5. These are valid in Europe.

jeffandnicole

I would have to say for me it was the Challenger accident as well.

Max Rockatansky

The 1984 Firecracker 400 at Daytona which was Richard Petty's last NASCAR win.  I was sitting in the living room with my Dad watching on TV on Canton, MI.  I remember watching the Tigers won the World Series also.  For what it's worth we watched the Challenger explosion live on TV also in 86. 

triplemultiplex

The Loma Prieta Earthquake.
I was thousands of miles away, but was heavy into baseball already so seeing earthquake damage instead of a game was extremely memorable.
"That's just like... your opinion, man."

hbelkins

For something that was planned, the moon landing and Neil Armstrong's steps on the lunar surface. Watched it on TV at home.

For something unplanned, Nixon's resignation. My family was in Louisville doing some back-to-school shopping and I saw the breaking news on TVs in a store in The Mall (now called Mall St. Matthews). We watched his speech from our hotel room in a Howard Johnson's on Shelbyville Road.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

jp the roadgeek

+1 on the Challenger disaster as my vote.  Was only 5 and in Kindergarten when Reagan was shot.  I also remember 9/11 like it was yesterday.  I'm pretty good with this when it comes to sports.  I can tell you that the whole night of the Buckner game in the 1986 World Series was a disaster for me.  My dad and I were supposed to go to the Whalers game that night.  We got to the turnstile, and he brought the tickets for the wrong game.  It wasn't like today where you could just pull it up on a smartphone.  We had to go back to his business 20 miles away, and by that time, we just said "forget it".  Went home, watched the ending in horror.  One of the three times in my life I cried over something bad in sports (though I did cry tears of joy when UConn won in '99 and the Red Sox broke the curse in '04, also because sadly my dad didn't live long enough to see either). 
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Hurricane Rex

Later, but probably the new Pope being voted in. 7th grade, in English class, taking a vocab quiz.
ODOT, raise the speed limit and fix our traffic problems.

Road and weather geek for life.

Running till I die.

LM117

9/11. I was in 7th grade. We were changing classes and when I first walked into the classroom, the news was on TV. I was living in Fremont, NC at the time and going to Norwayne Middle School. My dad kept a copy of our local newspaper paper from the Goldsboro News-Argus that day with a single, huge headline "UNITED STATES UNDER ATTACK" with a big picture of the Twin Towers in flames under it. He gave it to me a few years ago, which I still have.
“I don’t know whether to wind my ass or scratch my watch!” - Jim Cornette

route17fan

John Krakoff - Cleveland, Ohio

US 81

Apollo 11, Armstrong & Aldrin at Mare Tranquillitatis, July 20, 1969.

I was in college when Challenger happened. Someone called the prof to the door, she told everyone to come to a (big) lecture hall where several TVs on stands were tuned to the networks. The students and teachers just wandered from TV to TV and sat in small stunned groups. All classes stopped as far as I could tell. I remember I kept watching the footage over - intellectually I knew they were gone but I still kept hoping that somehow the crew might have survived.

On 9-11, I was just finishing my all night twelve-hour shift when someone came out of the break room to say that a plane had struck the WTC. I immediately thought of the bomber that had struck the Empire State bldg in the '40s and assumed that some small aircraft that had had some catastrophic failure. I watched live as WTC 2 was struck by the second plane and - everything I thought I knew changed. I don't think any of us going off-shift left work until after noon....


1995hoo

Quote from: Hurricane Rex on January 31, 2018, 11:20:55 AM
Later, but probably the new Pope being voted in. 7th grade, in English class, taking a vocab quiz.

Heh. Here's another example of generational thought differences. I assume, based on the age stated in your profile, you mean Pope Francis. If you didn't have an age stated, I'd probably think of Pope Benedict XVI, simply because John Paul II was the only pope I ever remembered (I was five when he became pope and I was unaware of such things back then) and I still automatically think of "the new pope" as being his successor.  :-D
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

NWI_Irish96

My 9/11 story isn't interesting but my Dad's is:

He went golfing that morning.  According to the pro working at the clubhouse, his group was the last group to check in before ESPN broke in with coverage.  Normally they would have hit the clubhouse between nines for snacks and drinks, but they were stuck behind a really slow group that wasn't letting them play through so when that group was still in the clubhouse after the 9th hole, they headed straight for the 10th tee to get ahead of them. 

My Dad also decided not to go to the clubhouse but head straight home after finishing, and had a CD playing in the car instead of a radio, and he didn't have a cell phone for anyone to call him and tell him what was going on, so it wasn't until he got home from golfing, some 5+ hours after it happened, that my Dad found out about it, making him one of the last in America to hear about it.
Indiana: counties 100%, highways 100%
Illinois: counties 100%, highways 61%
Michigan: counties 100%, highways 56%
Wisconsin: counties 86%, highways 23%

Hurricane Rex

Quote from: 1995hoo on January 31, 2018, 11:33:47 AM
Quote from: Hurricane Rex on January 31, 2018, 11:20:55 AM
Later, but probably the new Pope being voted in. 7th grade, in English class, taking a vocab quiz.

Heh. Here's another example of generational thought differences. I assume, based on the age stated in your profile, you mean Pope Francis. If you didn't have an age stated, I'd probably think of Pope Benedict XVI, simply because John Paul II was the only pope I ever remembered (I was five when he became pope and I was unaware of such things back then) and I still automatically think of "the new pope" as being his successor.  :-D
Yes, I mean Pope Francis, although I remember watching the Pope Benedict XVI although I don't know where it was.
ODOT, raise the speed limit and fix our traffic problems.

Road and weather geek for life.

Running till I die.

webny99

Being only 18, I don't really remember 9/11. So, I guess I'll have to go with the 2016 presidential election  :eyebrow:

dcharlie

John Lennon's shooting and death.  We were still hoping for a reunion back then...

ftballfan

Quote from: MNHighwayMan on January 31, 2018, 09:06:20 AM
9/11 is mine. My experience is probably a little different than most people my age, because my elementary school (I was in the fourth grade) just went on as usual that day. None of the teachers or staff said a single word about it. I only learned about it when my mom came and picked me up after school, and I heard about it on the radio. I also remember the day because my parents, who aren't usually news watchers, had CNN on all afternoon/evening.

Similar for me. I was also in fourth grade and I didn't hear about it until after school. Side note: My classroom was in a portable building not connected to the rest of the school due to overcrowding.

TheHighwayMan3561

The death of Princess Diana. Was with my mom at her friend's house in Duluth and was up way past bedtime for a 7-year old when the news broke. Mom and her friend were watching SNL.
self-certified as the dumbest person on this board for 5 years running

freebrickproductions

The April 27th, 2011 tornadoes here in the Southeast, mostly because I had to survive through them!

I was at my house for the first part of the day, then we got into school (which had been delayed for a few hours) where I was there for a few hours as the weather worsened before they sent us home at about noon. I was at my house again until after the power went out, at which point my family waited for the weather to lighten up a bit before making the (fortunately somewhat short) trip to my grandparent's house where they had a back-up generator.
It's all fun & games until someone summons Cthulhu and brings about the end of the world.

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Sctvhound

The Oklahoma City bombing was the first time I remember seeing something bad. I was 3 years old at my grandmother's house, who was watching daytime talk shows when the networks broke in.

Probably the first event I remember where I was when it happened was Princess Diana in 1997. It was late at night, and I remember the day after it seemed like the whole world was in mourning, which was strange to me as a 5 year old who didn't know who Princess Diana was.

On 9/11, I was in the 4th grade in SC, and we had a pre-scheduled early release day. I went to the bathroom and saw one of the other teachers showing a TV feed of the towers burning, probably 30 minutes after the second plane had hit. Not long after that, the principal came over the loudspeaker and mentioned what happened, and schools quietly dismissed for the day, in the most eerie day I have ever experienced.

I went to my mom's classroom (she was a HS teacher) and they had CNN piped in (which was rare at that time period). Nine year old me was shocked that literally every radio station, no matter the format, stopped running music to run all 9/11 coverage, and probably 85-90% of cable channels were running coverage.

PHLBOS

President Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974.  I was 8 at the time.  A bunch of us were just hanging outside near the adjacent street intersection of the house I lived in; when my mother came out & mentioned that President Nixon was resigning from office.
GPS does NOT equal GOD

Brandon

I don't remember where I was for the Challenger disaster, but undoubtedly I saw it live on TV.  My first that I remember without a doubt, including the entire day, is August 28, 1990, the Plainfield Tornado.

It had been a Tuesday, the first day of eight grade.  It was a partial day, with classes letting out about 11 am or so.  It was very warm and very humid, and when I got home after a mile and a quarter bicycle ride (there was no bus - we lived too close at that distance), we filled up the kiddie pool.  My bother, I, and his friends relaxed in the pool for a bit after lunch.  About 2:30-3, we could see some potentially nasty weather to the northwest (in Illinois, it's fairly easy with no large hills or mountains in the way), and we got out of the pool and cleaned up inside.  Just before 3:30 pm, I turned on the TV to watch Jeopardy (pretty much a daily affair for us).  No sooner than the words "This is Jeopardy!" were said than the sirens turned on for a tornado warning.  I went to turn off the TV, but before I could get there, the power went out.  We basically said screw it at that point and went for the basement.  Must've spent the next 15-20 minutes down there.  Even the local radio station, WJOL (AM 1340) was off the air due to a lack of power.  Thus, we really had no idea what was going on beyond a tornado.  About 3:50, we got out of the basement and tried to get some news over a battery powered radio.  Learned that there has been a very large tornado in the area, and were not surprised due to the sky we had seen earlier.  That sky was a distinct shade of sickly green to the northwest.  Power finally came on about 6-6:15 pm after my father got home from Bolingbrook.
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