50 years is a long time, but of course I remember where I was when I got the news that JFK had been shot and killed.
I was 19, and newly engaged. The company I worked for was on strike. It was almost Christmas and I wanted some spending money. I was in a room with many others taking a written employment test, to see if we were smart enough to work for Sears, in Long Beach, CA.
Halfway thru the test, two people came into the room. One of them said, "This has never happened before, but we felt we had to interrupt your test to tell you that the President has been shot and killed." Everyone in the room just sat there. The two people left the room. No one taking the test reacted, including me. We continued to take the test.
This is what I thought.
- This is crazy
- They're trying to see how we'll react under stress.
- Presidents don't get shot.
Of course, I was only right on one count, "This is crazy".
Afterwards, my life went on. I got the seasonal Christmas job at Sears, working in the catalog department. A little more than six months later, I married to Bob. There are other newsmaking dates that I remember where I was, but November 22, 1963, was the first.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing my life with me,
My relatives remember it seeming impossible, as though they were having some sort of mass hallucination.
ReplyDelete