Kennedy shot: My mom was in 5th grade
Landing on the moon: not even thought of yet
Challenger Explosion: I was helping my grandmother fold clothes, watching the launch on television. It was a snow-day, and there was no school for me, so I was rather enjoying not having to watch it on the little screen at school with thirty or so loud classmates. I remember thinking it was a special effect or something, then just dropping the towel I was folding and looking at my grandmother, who was staring in shock. I cried my eyes out. After all, I had wanted to be an astronaut, and my teacher had been a semi-finalist to be ON that shuttle. Really fuckin scary for the 9 year old I was.
I remember hearing about the 89 quake and seeing pictures, but it wasn't something that really affected me personally. I was across the country from it, and had no relatives over there, and though it was scary and really strange to me, it didn't make too much of a difference in my daily routine.
9/11: I was making breakfast, and my husband and I had been bitching about our then-roomie when I heard something on the morning radio that really made me stop and tell him to shut up. We heard the announcement that the Pentagon had been hit by a plane, and I quietly asked him to turn on the television. We watched as the plane hit tower 2. I have never been so terrified in my entire life. Part of me wept for the children, families, and friends of those killed, and part of me raged, and part of me was so terrified about what was next that I wanted to panic.
I called a friend who lives in Queens, and got no answer, so I got more frightened, called my friends in Washington state, woke Marty up, he turned on the news, said, "I'll call you back," hung up on me, and called his command. the bases were put on lockdown, and he called me back and told me not to call him for a while, he'd get back to me.
It was scary as hell. I'll never forget it.
