Where was I meme
This is the meme.
Princess Diana’s death (August 31, 1997)
I remember the day well enough. I was three months into my second pregnancy and had just taken a leave of absence from study due to some hemorrhaging the week before. The Scientist, Games Fanatic and I were visiting at his parents’ home, for lunch, I think. I am pretty sure his mum was away at the time but I recall his dad sitting in the usual chair in the games room, watching the news when the newsflash came on. We all rushed to see the story when we first heard about it. That’s about all I remember about that day. I had no idea of the hysteria that was to follow.
The events of the following week have been superseded in my memory by more personal events. That was the week that my pregnancy ended and I recall being in the hospital, watching the funeral on tv and feeling how unimportant her death was in the grand scheme of things. The hype over the years about her death always makes me feel quite sour. In many ways my own loss is well in the past, but because the media regurgitate this story so regularly, I find myself pondering that time in my life quite often. At the moment my memories are especially strong because the dates and days of the week match that week eleven years ago. Surprisingly, the media have been relatively quiet (at least from my perspective) this year.
Margaret Thatcher’s resignation (November 22, 1990)
I’ve no idea where I was when I heard this news although I do remember it.
Attack on the Twin Towers (September 11, 2001)
The irony was that we had flown over New York three months earlier and that turned out to be the only time I ever saw the towers. We were living temporarily near Halifax, Nova Scotia where the Scientist was working at the time. Games Fanatic (7) was in school that day. The Scientist was workingwith his boss in the dining room (where he had his computer set up). Lego Lover (2) was cuddled up with me in the bed upstairs, watching preschool programs on CBC. The news cut into the programs to report the events and they kind of stayed there all day. The first news came through not long after the first plane hit and we saw almost all of what happened afterwards. Lego Lover actually saw the second plane hit. I didn’t have time to divert his attention. Luckily he had no understanding of the events. My memory of seeing the towers go down (as it happened), and knowing all the lives going down with them, will stick with me forever. There is no way to distance myself from that.
I had to collect Games Fanatic at lunch time and try to explain the events as simply as possible. He was quite distressed by it all and found it difficult to return to school during the afternoon session. Apparently he was the only child in his class very much affected. His teacher seemed to attribute this to his US connections but I know it was just his own understanding of events as he has had strong empathy from a young age and he didn’t really care about being American since he was Australian!
Air flights en route to the US were diverted into Halifax (among other Canadian cities) and passengers were put up in the high school next to Game Fanatic’s school. I remember feeling we were quite cut off from the US during the first couple of days. We couldn’t even get a copy of a US newspaper because none were available. As major events go, I’d guess this was the equivalent of JFK’s assassination for me.
England’s World Cup Semi-Final against Germany (July 4, 1990)
I don’t recall this at all, having been in the US at the time.
President Kennedy’s assassination (November 22, 1963)
This predates my existence so I can’t comment.
I’m going to add one more because this did impact me in some way, despite being very young.
Apollo Lunar Landing (July 20, 1969)
While I don’t recall specifics about the events of the time, I distinctly recall my parents taking my brothers and me outside to look at the moon after watching the moonwalk on our television. I remember it being very awe-inspiring at the time to think that a man had gone in a spaceship to the moon and was walking there. I was only four at the time but I do remember it. In fact, I’d guess this is my oldest distinct memory as most others from the time are so vague as to make me wonder if I remember remembering rather than a particular event in my life.
I also recall hearing the news of the deaths of Elvis and of John Lennon. I wasn’t that much of an Elvis fan but I knew a few people who were. I mainly recall being in my room (I was about twelve) and listening to my clock radio at the time. It must have been late afternoon when I heard the news. Surprisingly I recall very little else about the time immediately afterwards. I heard the news about Lennon upon waking up to my clock radio for school the morning afterwards. I had been listening the night before and turned it off most likely a few minutes before the first reports came in as I was already very much of a night owl by then. I was a Beatles fan and did like John Lennon’s music so this affected me far more personally than Elvis’ death.
