23 years ago today: Challenger

I remember Challenger really well. The Berlin Wall, not as much because the indelible image for me with that was hearing President Reagan say, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."

However, I remember exactly where I was when I found out Magic Johnson announced he was HIV positive. I was heading into the game room at my community college and a girl who worked in the game room told me, "Magic Johnson has AIDS." I said something, either "I don't believe it" or "I don't believe you," but I found out later she was dead on.

I might even be able to point you to the exact spot where I was standing in that room where I found out, even though the layout of that room has completely changed since then.

I think tragedies really add to your memory of where you were more so than events that built up over time like the fall of the Berlin Wall.

 

was in second grade and we were watching in class, live, as I recall. one of my earliest school memories, really. remember them hurrying us out to an early recess ... and still vividly remember thinking the smoke from the initial explosion looked like the head of a duck. extremely random, I know, and now I need to go back and look at video or photos to see, but for whatever reason that memory sticks.

 

You don't skydive from 65,000 feet. If you're in a military plane and eject, you have oxygen fed into your helmet.

 

Christa McAuliffe was the first teacher going into space and there had been a lot of PR in the lead up to it, maybe even an application process for teachers. So it was a huge deal in schools around the country. I have little doubt that countless classrooms across the country were tuned in to watch on CNN that day.

 

bizarre but i was in my car and heard on the radio while i was less than a mile from where one of the challenger crew once worked

 

I was three. I don't remember it at all. What I do remember was a couple of years later my dad taking me over to a neighbors house who had a satellite so we could watch the launch of what I am now guessing was the next shuttle. The significance of it was completely lost on me, even with all the stories surrounding it.

The "where were you" events in my life were princess Diana's death (Staying over at good friends, mom woke me up early to tell me), The Oklahoma city bombing (was channel surfing just happened upon it), and 9/11 (Just stepped out of the shower, getting ready for school my first year of college, TV was on and cut away to a report a plane had crashed into the tower, at that point they didn't know much if anything about it and they cut back to the regular morning local news).

 

French class during my sophomore year of high school. My buddy Jay walked into the class and told everyone.

The where was I moments...
Diana
Magic and HIV
Oklahoma City
9/11
DC Sniper caught
Obama winning

More personal
"I'm pregnant" and then later, "it's a girl"
My father had passed away.
Oh, and the first time I told my mom she is going to be a grandma.

 

True. Columbia didn't have a teacher on board and it was post- 9-11.

 

It also happened pretty early on a Saturday morning, so not too many people were paying attention. Except those folks in Texas and La. with stuff falling on their heads. I was fortunate enough to be paged several times by work about it, even though I was in Vegas at the time.

 

Challenger blew up on the morning of my mom's 47th birthday (yesterday was her 70th). I was out of college for two years and working nights, so I was sleeping late. Rolled over and turned on the TV at about 11 and was stunned by what I was seeing.

As for Columbia, I remember turning on the radio in bed that morning and hearing the news and immediately turning on the TV. It was also that way for JFK Jr.'s death, which I believe the news also came on a Saturday morning.

 

Chilling stuff.

 

And that anniversary is coming up in a couple of days.

I worked a midnight, grabbed a short nap, then headed for Olean to meet my folks before a Bonnies game. Heard about Columbia on the radio on the way there, and almost put the car in the ditch ...