Jul19

11.

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50th anniversary of the week of the Apollo 11 moon landing

I was 11

on the cusp of everything 

we went over

to my parents’ friends’ house

everyone was transfixed

air was electric

all gathered around the tv

watching

silent and awestruck

gobsmacked

as the first man walked on the moon

spoke his first words on the moon

 lots of emotion in the house

I ran to the window to look at the moon 

hoping I would see him up there

right in the middle of all of this

the hostess

left to go to the hospital

to have her baby

she named him neil

after that man on the moon.

—

“we ran as if to meet the moon.” 

― robert frost

 

 

—

image credit: Ann Arbor district library archives

50 responses »

  3. I think we all can remember certain days of history, and this is certainly one of them for me. I watched alone, pregnant with my first child. I remember cradling my belly and saying aloud, “Look Pookie! A man is walking on the moon. You’ll never know a time when that hasn’t happened.” I think it’s hitting us hard on this 50th anniversary because even though the Vietnam war was going on, that event was so filled with hope and looking ahead, and in today’s political climate, there doesn’t seem to be nearly as much of that optimism.

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    • yes, these special days, both the good ones and the bad ones, impact us forever. I think you are spot on about why this is hitting so hard in the present moment.

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  17. That was something to see, I was 25. That afternoon I was emceeing a band concert in the park and raced home as soon as I could get out of there. I was lucky I didn’t get a speeding ticket and made it in time to watch with my wife and our baby girl. I don’t know how much she remembers, she was 10 months old, but we told her it was a big deal and she watched.

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