Where were you?

Yes, you. Where were you, when you first heard important national news? For years, people talked about where they were, and what they were doing, when they heard that JFK had been assassinated. I was in kindergarten, and my memories of him dying are all confused with memories of the death of Pope John XXIII, who died on the third of June in that same year of 1963.

When they lowered the American flag for the president, I thought it was for the pope. (Okay, I wasn't the brightest child. I lived in a dream world most of the time.)

Anyway, I got to thinking: How many times did I first hear "big news" on my car radio, while driving through the endless SoCal traffic?

Things I first heard about while driving: John Lennon's murder. John Belushi's death. Asshole murdering teflon creep driving really slowly in a white Bronco. President Reagan's near-death experience at the hand of a flaming psychotic.

The day the towers collapsed, I was listening to the radio at home. (No internet yet, and we had no tv.) Since I was listening to a classical radio station, I heard nothing for hours and hours and oddly enough, no one telephoned me. Then, the station mentioned that a plane had crashed into one of the towers. I thought they meant a small craft. A while later, an embarrassed-sounding announcer announced that they would were going to a direct feed--all news report, and I heard all the horrifying details.