November 2003

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Catching up a bit.

I've already made my feelings on the subject of gay marriage known. In light of the Massachusetts Court ruling last week, several people have made comments I find worthy of attention. I suggest you go see what Mark (on November 19), David, Rick, and Sister Betty (two entries) have to say.

Several more pictures have arrived for the Celebration pages, but have not yet been posted. If you took a picture but haven't sent it, please know it isn't too late! I am loving getting to see the pictures. It makes me feel very special that so many people took time to commemorate my birthday by taking these wonderful pictures. And trust me---the ones that came this weekend will be well worth seeing. I'll get them posted soon...stay tuned!

I am happy to report that the damned limb that hung down over my regular parking spot is no longer a danger to my car. It had been trimmed by the time I got home Friday. Even though I'm pretty sure the tree work in front of my building is completed, I decided I'd rather park elsewhere tonight that find out at 8:00 tomorrow morning that they had more to do.

And that's about it for one evening.

November 22

Yes, I remember. I was in school, in Mrs. B's fifth grade classroom, on that Friday afternoon. We had just come back from recess, and the speaker of the public address system was active, broadcasting something we didn't understand.

Mrs. B. flipped the switch to turn off the broadcast, thinking it had been turned on (in the school office) by accident, and that the principal was trying to listen to the local news on his radio while having a late lunch. All we had heard was that there was a news story breaking in Texas. No details.

Another teacher stepped into the classroom and said the broadcast was important. We couldn't reactivate the speaker on our own, so Mrs. B. sent me to the office to ask that our room's switch be reactivated there.

And then we heard the terrible news. The President was dead.

Much of what I remember of the day after that point is fragmented. I was too young to understand much at all of the politics of the situation---I had turned 10 the Friday before. What I do remember was the overwhelming sadness. I remember being with friends and relatives at our house, and all of us being very somber.

I remember things about the rest of that weekend, the one that ended on Monday with the burial at Arlington. I remember the lines of people waiting to pay respects. I remember learning and falling in love with the Navy Hymn (which I still love, by the way).

I remember Lee Harvey Oswald getting shot. I remember hearing Walter Cronkite's voice on the television. I remember feeling sorry for those two little children who had lost their daddy---it had been a whole six years and two weeks since I had lost mine.

Mainly, I remember the sadness.