Lani's Blog

Historical Event

If you could have personally witnessed one event in history, what would you want to have seen?











I would’ve liked to have seen Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. I was seven years old when Apollo 11 took off. The night of the event seem to drag on forever. My family and I were sitting on the couch or floor listening to Walter Cronkite of CBS news give the play by play. The lunar module in shadow was impressive but not much was really happening. Even Uncle Walt’s enthusiasm seemed to be waning. It was late and I was tired.





Now this is where my memory gets a little fuzzy.





It seems that the lunar module we had been looking at was the NASA model. The TV folks would switch to the real thing when Armstrong was ready to take his walk. It should be just a few minutes they said. Right. To a tired cranky seven year old, their few minutes seemed like hours. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and started off to bed.





“You’re going to miss it,” said my brother.





“I don’t care. I don’t believe them anyway. We are watching a model. I’m sleepy. They can do this without me,” I said this with all the superiority of an eldest daughter.





The next day, my eldest brother informed me Neil Armstrong walked on the moon just after I went to bed.





Irritated I replied, “I still don’t care. There will be other chances to see.”





“But never another first.”





I never admitted it to him but he was right. I wish I had stayed up. I wish I could have seen it myself. Ah well, that God for youtube.








Lani