Where were you?

Just ran across this headline as I was thinking about posting about it today.

While I'm not a Diana follower... I do remember where I was on August 31, when the news of the accident began filtering out to the world.

I was house-sitting for Lenny, my friend Tracie's Mom. Denice, my best girlfriend, and I were having dinner Theo's bar in Sioux Falls when we noticed there was a special report being aired on all the TVs at the bar. News had just begun to trickle in about the accident in Paris. Everyone in the room was riveted to the TVs. When we finished eating, we went back to Lenny's and watched the news about the happenings into the night waiting to hear whether Diana would survive.

It was surreal then... and it is surreal now as I think about it. Time seemed to stand still as we waited to hear the outcome.

Sadly, I guess we all know the end of this story.

The interesting thing is, as I remembered where I was nine years ago, I also started thinking about other events I remember vividly.

1980 - Mt. Saint Helens:
I was in fifth grade when Mt. Saint Helens blew her top... I think it was one of the last days of school. Even in Nebraska, states away from the mountain, the volcanic ash found a home. Everything had a little layer of soot: cars, farm equipment, cattle, homes, trees, etc. At the time I didn't really understand what was going on, but I knew it was big.

1986 - Space Shuttle Explosion:
BHS Chemistry class with Mr. Filips. Mrs. Cripe came into the classroom and told us what happened. Then, as our mouths gapped open, we all watched CNN on a TV atop one of those rolling classroom carts.

1993 - SD Governor Mickelson killed in a plane crash:
At the Western Ave / 41st Streen stoplight in Sioux Falls, on my way to work out. Seven SD leaders perished in the crash. At first I was stunned and then I was just sad... I cried right there in the car.

9-1-1:
At home, getting ready for work... I worked at News 2 as the Internet / Marketing Director at the time. Had just finished updating WKRN.com with the AM news from home and was getting ready to go in for the rest of the day. Soon, I dropped everything and began putting up 911 news from home until my Internet connection went down completely. Our CMS provider at the time was based in NYC... we were instant messaging back and forth... they were evacuating their offices. It was really scary. After the Web went down, I drove to work as fast as I could while listening to the announcer on the radio describe the towers falling down. Pretty much everything after that, the rest of the day and the next four to six weeks... maybe more... is just a blur. While I didn't realize it at the time, the constant contact with everything 911 really affected me. I lost 15 pounds and have had a hard time watching continuous coverage of anything ever since. It just overwhelms me.

Isn't it wild how things like this, while they may not be directly linked to you, can be burned into your brain and recalled so vividly... and affect you so deeply? They can be life-changing.

What happened?
Where were you?
What were you doing?
What makes you remember it?