The Ultimate

I remember

Returning from Central Park, where I was ice skating on The Pond (pre Wollman’) when I learned about Pearl Harbor

I remember

Sitting at a window watching the smoke envelope the tenements in Hells Kitchen the day the SS Normandie caught fire and

I remember

Sitting in the driver’s seat of a weathered red station wagon accompanied by my four youngsters. and a kindly neighbor, Mary Gambino. While we waited for the light to change on Fallwood Parkway and Main Street in Farmingdale, the radio announced JFK had been shot.

As soon as the light switched to green, I signaled a left turn and we drove to St. Kilian’s to pray f0r our president. The church was filled to capacity before we arrived.

I remember

Waiting in our kitchen for my husband to join me for breakfast on the morning of 9/11.

When I turned on TV, I learned a plane had hit the Twin Towers.

We never did eat breakfast that day and I don’t recall either of us moving away from the TV until after nightfall.

I remember

I had just returned to the Plainview office where I was an Executive Assistant after a lunch break on the day OJ Simpson heard his verdict.

There was little work done for the remainder of the afternoon by any of the staff as we pondered the surprising jury decision.

I remember

After leaving my home of 57 years I had barely unpacked.. I had trouble sleeping in a different bed, a new home and an unknown state, when I heard the election results

Donald Trump would be our 45th U.S. President.

Today I am weary. Two friends are hospitalized, but Covid is alive and well.

When I turn on the TV, I learn the nation is awaiting another verdict.

And I am compelled to wonder about so very many things, their unknown consequences and their ultimate importance in life’s outcome.

The loved ones who shared the early memories are long gone.

Twilight now appears on the horizon for some others who may or may not choose to remember

And I hear oft repeated questions:

“How?”

“Why”

“If”

Am I alone?