Monday, July 20, 2009

If You Believe, They Put a Man on the Moon

Forty years ago today one small step was taken by man; one giant leap by mankind.

I was just shy of my seventh birthday and I was bored. My family was visiting my favorite aunt for a week or two. That was usually a lot of fun, but on this evening no one wanted to play with me. There was nothing good on TV. All of the adults were glued to the set, watching something boring, and they kept telling me how lucky I was to be witnessing history. I would've rather been witnessing The Brady Bunch, which hadn't aired yet but looked very promising from the promos.

So I watched - not having any idea what I was seeing.

But I saw.

One of the much older cousins - not one of my cousins, but one of theirs from the other side of the family, had recently gotten engaged. She and her honey wanted to go out and look at the moon. I tagged along, because the moon seemed to be what all the fuss was about. Recently engaged couples love gazing at the moon with a six year old in tow, it's a fact. They told me to see if I could see the flag we'd just seen them plant on TV. They told me to look really hard. When they were sure my attention was fully focused on the moon, they kissed. And it was really gross. I turned up my nose and went back into the house.

I reported that all of this was a fake, because I had looked very carefully and I had seen no evidence of any of this business on the real moon. Everyone laughed and thought that was real cute.

I left that room, too.

What a stupid day.

What an amazing day.

30 comments:

Gibby said...

This is much better than the moon stories the news shows are all airing today!

mzbehavin said...

What an amazing post!!!!!!

( Can I have Writing lessons.... please??? )

:-)

Macey said...

Oh, that's really sweet, besides the sucky face stuff!
If you believe, there's nothin' out there to see....
Now I have that stuck in my head.
Love REM.
Macey

Cammie said...

and now I have that song stuck in my head.....

Jenni said...

What a great story!

Together We Save said...

I was a baby just born on the 14th but my mom held me up to the TV to watch history in the making. Your story is much better.

Brandy said...

A little before my time but I'm sad that I missed it. :(

Watching history happen & then understanding what it means must be amazing.

Melissa B. said...

I was a couple of years older, and totally resisted my parents' urging to "sit down and watch history." Don't really remember what I was doing, but I know I had to BE somewhere. My social calendar called! Now I'm sorry that I was so silly...

Sandy said...

I remember it well. Who knew what we were watching?

The Redhead Riter said...

I remember like it was yesterday because I was enthralled with the moon at a very young age.

:o) Hope you had a Happy Monday!

Vivienne @ the V Spot said...

That is such a great post!!!! I love this spin on THAT day. So much of what happens around us isn't appreciated until later.

Did I mention I love this?

Fran said...

Hi Tammy!

I really, really like this post! It is a great writing indeed. In Chinese there is a saying "Walking in the moonlight smelling the scent of flowers is the most romantic moment for lovers." And I also tagged (many times as I can remember) to my aunt's dates, and was sort of "made fun of" as you were. :o)

May I collect this post in my personal blog? I will put your name and link to there, too!

And thank you very much for all the nice comments to my blog!

Have a great week!
Fran

JennyMac said...

Love the post! And what an amazing event (not the kissing one...LOL)

Anonymous said...

That's a cute memory!

FranticMommy said...

Man on the Moon. I wasn't even born yet...no really..(snort*giggle) I am only 29....

It's still an amazing thing 40 years later.

Kathy B! said...

I love that you can remember this. How cool to have such a huge piece of history that you can personally remember. The moon may not be made of swiss cheese but sometimes I feel like my head is.

Pam said...

I was only 5 during the moon landing and I have absolutely no recollection of it at all. Unfortunately. Today is my dad's birthday and I'm going to ask him what he remembers from that day. Was I there? Did he insist I sit and watch? I sure hope so.

Badass Geek said...

How neat it would have been to have seen that. I was but a glimmer in my dads eye when it happened.

Grand Pooba said...

Best moon story ever!

Claudya Martinez said...

You're lucky!

And now I have that song running through my head.

Carma Sez said...

My parents rented a television 2 times so we could watch the moon landings. It was a BIG DEAL at our place. (BTW it was not that we couldn't afford a TV- that's just how they wanted it- of course word got around school that we did not have a TV - embarrassing!!!) We eventually got one when I was 11 years old. I know all of this is super exciting ;-)

AiringMyLaundry said...

How very cool.

Fran said...

Hi Tammy!

I would like to give you an award for all the nice comments! Check it out at my blog:

http://franscrapbook.blogspot.com/

Have a great day!
Fran

Sandy said...

Tammy, tool on over to visit and collect the little Panda I have there for you! Nobody comments better than you.

Liz Mays said...

You were unknowingly part of the coolest event and I don't mean the make out session.

Awesome memory!

Stacy Uncorked said...

What an awesome memory to have! :)

the girl with the pink teacup said...

Why do the significant events in history always seem so ridiculous when we're living through them? You never fail to make me giggle, Tammy. I think my six year old self and your six year old self would've been fine friends...

MaryRC said...

i love that you even have a memory, so very cool. we were shooting on Freemont street last night and the celebration was in full moon swing.

Marina@EBMR said...

wow....you sure do have a great memory!

Happy Saturday Sharefest!

PS Come visit my blog and enter the 2 giveaways...while at my blog please could you help me build up comments for the blog giveaway I'm trying to win? Thank you

http://energizerbunnysmommyreports.blogspot.com/2009/07/top-10-reasons-i-am-excited-to-stay.html....

Dreamgirl said...

What a great story! I loved this post... History in the making!

Happy Saturday Sharefest to you and your family. Hope you make some great memories this weekend too...