okay, so i’m behind on the whole promptuesday thing, but seeing as i was blogging about something else (like smoking, because, you know, it’s important), i’m stealing the blog idea and using it today instead. here’s the latest promptuesday:

So where were you when history was laid down? Was the TV playing Nixon in the background while you ate an innocuous chicken dinner? Were you born the day Kennedy was shot? Did you watch the falling Challenger from a classroom full of fifth grade students like you?

This PROMPTuesday, share where you were when. Tell the story any way you want. And as always, fiction is welcome, too.

there are a few things that have happened in my lifetime that were monumental, and because i like bullet points, i’ll use three to lay down the biggest ones:

  • challenger disaster (january 28, 1986)

i was in 3rd grade at the time (i think…) and at that period of time, space exploration was very important to america. whenever something new happened, i remember being completely enthralled that people were in shuttles!  up there!  seeing the earth from thousands of miles away!

this was also the brief period of time where i decided that i wanted to be an astronaut when i grew up.  i remember thinking that if sally ride could be a girl astronaut, then i could be a girl astronaut too.  (part of me really wishes that i would have never given up on this dream.)  all of my interest in space exploration as a child is most likely what is responsible for my love of science fiction; battlestar galactica, star trek and firefly are probably the closest thing i will ever come to being an astronaut myself.

so when the challenger disaster happened, i was in class (although to be honest, i don’t know if i was actually watching tv when it happened), but our class heard about it, and naturally, i was devastated.  perhaps that was the beginning of the end of my dream.

  • september 11th, 2001

at the time, i was living with my folks (i was in between apartments or relationships or something), and i think i was actually sleeping when the first plane hit.  the next thing i know, my dad (who worked night shift at the time) starts yelling “hey! stef! come out here!” in a tone that meant i needed to do exactly that. i remember being groggy and thinking that if he was beckoning me to come and look at yet another herd of deer walking through the backyard, i was going to be really ticked off that he woke me up for it.

unfortunately, that was not the case.

while we watched smoke pouring out of the first tower on tv, we saw the second plane hit the other tower, and both of us gasped in horror.  i remember watching through my fingers while the towers went down. i worked for delta air lines at the time, and i had tuesdays off, but my supervisor called me and asked if i could come in since we had no idea how many people we would need to handle whatever situation would occur.

i had a 45-minute drive to the airport from my parents’ house, and i listened to howard stern (which is weird, because i’ve never been a big howard stern fan). he would keep reading reports as they came off the wire, but there were so many and anytime a plane veered even slightly off-course, they were suspected of having terrorists aboard. three times during that 45-minute drive, i almost had to pull over on the side of the highway because i was crying so hard. i was scared, and that’s the long and the short of it.

all i knew was that what was happening right then was going to change the course of our country, and i had no idea how.  it would be safe to say that if it hadn’t happened, i would probably still be working at delta air lines today.

  • november 4th, 2008

this one is easy. this is the day where america did not elect a white man for the highest office in the united states. this is the day where americans sent the message that we do not believe that the color of someone’s skin is as important as their ability to lead, to manage, and to inspire. even in the wake of september 11th, i did not feel as inspired and unified with my fellow americans as i did two days ago. this one man has opened so many doors for “the other one” – the one who isn’t white, the one who isn’t male, the one who does not come from a long line of politicians or businessmen.  he is not the same ‘ole, same ‘ole.  he is different. (and you can read my previous post for my thoughts on how i feel about people who are different.)  for me, our president-elect signifies positive change in our country, one that has been a very, very long time in coming.