We all know that people remember where they were when big events happen.? Big, important events get written to our ‘non-volatile’ memory.? I know where I was for the moon landing, when Reagan was shot, the twin towers, and yes, where I was when Elvis died.? That last one I just realized within the past couple of days with all the coverage of the 30th anniversary.? I wasn’t a huge Elvis fan at 12 years old.? I knew he lived just up the road in Memphis and that we passed his place on the way to the mall, but I really wasn’t a fan.? I thought maybe it was that it got so much coverage from all the Memphis TV and maybe that is what I remembered, but I really don’t remember the coverage.? What I remember is the initial instant that I heard about it.
I was at my friends Jim and Gil Pillow’s house.? They had a pretty large home and had a kids room for us to play in.? It was full of toys and had it’s own bathroom and TV.? They had a bunch of big, square pillows that were very firm and we were jumping off the couch onto the pillows.? (I didn’t say we were behaving in the wake of such a profound event.)? As usual, we had the TV on, more for noise than entertainment.? They interrupted whatever program we were not watching with a news bulletin that Elvis was dead.? I remember that I stopped and watched the report, more out of shock than interest.? Jim and Gil kept playing.? After watching it, I felt a need to go tell their mom.? I don’t know why, but I just felt she should know.
Some events I can easily see why I remember them.? For instance, when the towers were hit, I was an adult and it hit me very hard, as it did everyone.? Even when Reagan was shot, I was in high school and old enough to know what was going on.? But some of the early memories, like the Moon Landing.? I have no idea why I remember it.? I was very small and I can remember that I was supposed to be taking a nap, but I was allowed to nap where the TV was because of the moon landing.? I never really figured that part out.? I was at a baby sitters and she wanted to see the moon landing, but we could nap in front of it.? Weird.? Anyway, I remember being mad because I had to lay down.? I lay there and fidgeted and glanced at the TV and thought how bad the picture was compared with normal TV.? I had no idea of the magnitude of the event and to this day, my memories of it are having to lay there and be still.? That is my only memory of that baby sitter’s house too, but I remember that event.?? It didn’t seem like a big event at the time, but I have never forgotten it.
