Thursday, November 22, 2007

nov. 22

When Saddam crawled out of his hole, I was watching tv in a Paris hotel.
When the towers fell, I was bringing my kids home from kindergarten.
The day the Challenger exploded, I was in the Philadelphia Library checking
out “The Annotated Dracula.” The librarian let me know on the way out.
When the tsunami hit, I was discussing Christmas dinner with my sister.
The day Kennedy was shot, my birth was still a few days off,
but I remember it as if I were there on the side of the road,
holding the camera, getting it all down.

2 comments:

LKD said...

How strange that it wasn't even mentioned this year.

I think this is the first year I can recall that the Zapruder footage wasn't played to death everywhere.

I was waiting tables when the Challenger exploded.

I was cleaning an elderly woman's house when the bomb went off and tore the federal building apart in Oklahoma city.

Come, look at this, she said, holding her little black dog, Molly. Come look at this. This can't be real.

I was walking out the door on the way to French class minutes before the second tower was hit.

I was sitting out on the terrace conjugating French verbs when the towers fell.

I was asleep in my bed when my father fell to the floor and never got up again.

Just weeks before, my father had told me after the towers fell: Don't worry, Laurel, it's not the end of the world.

You're a year older than me. A year and a month. Happy birthday early. Whenever it is, happy birthday.

SarahJane said...

The only reason I think I always remember is because it's right before my birthday. Loved your memories. Somehow I remember the aftermath of Okla. City but not the thing itself. When they killed mcveigh, i was surprised to hear my usually very liberal father say nobody would shed any tears over that, and i couldn't have agreed more.

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