Where were you? (Was:Can everyone in Dallas check in re: space shuttle)

[tesseract197 <jayemelle@earthlink.net>]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Meg Demeranville 
<mdemeran at h...>" <mdemeran at h...> wrote:
> I was in the first grade when the Challenger blew up. It's actually 
> one of the first memories I have of my school days. Somehow, we won 
> the right to see the Challenger launch over any of the other 
grades. 
> I remember sitting on that classroom floor with my best friend and 
> watching the television. I remember we were all kidding around and 
> laughing because it was really cool that we were the ones to watch 
> it. And then it blew up. The classroom got really quiet at that 
> point and I everyone was just stunned. I remember them switching 
the 
> TV off and just trying to get us to focus on classwork. That was 
the 
> first thing I thought about this morning when I saw it on the news. 
> My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this most 
> recent tragedy. 
> 
> Meg (who has to focus on Biochem, but who's thoughts are miles away)

I was in kindergarten when the Challenger tragedy happened, and I've 
never been sure if I really remember it happening or if I've just 
heard about it so much that I've built up a recollection over the 
years.  I've heard my mom say countless times that the only way she 
could explain the horror of the situation to me is that there was a 
teacher on board who had a little girl like me, and that that little 
girl would never be able to hug her mommy again.  That was pretty 
darn terrifying for a 6-year-old to hear--even now, at 23, it's an 
upsetting thought.  How terrible that there are now 7 more families 
faced with that unthinkable reality.

Tess
who works at a newspaper and has been inundated with news reports 
about Columbia all day long and was dangerously close to becoming 
desensitized to it before checking in here