I just read that Walter Cronkite died today. He was 92 years old. In a few days it will be the 40th anniversary of the first man to walk on the moon. Walter Cronkite was an icon of my childhood, and I remember the moon landing like it was yesterday. It startles me, these events that mark the passage of my life. The big, newsworthy things take place dramatically and everybody remembers, but it's the small things that spark an individual memory. Like the smell of the hay field on that hot summer day in July of 1969 when I came in the house at supper time to watch the moon landing on our fuzzy black and white TV set and the feel of the cool grass on my bare feet as I ran towards the house. Dad calling to Mom to bring more tinfoil for the antennae so we'd get a better picture.
I can still hear the gravity in Walter Cronkite's voice each night as he read off the number of that day's casualities in Viet Nam. It seemed like he
really cared. The evening news hasn't been, in my mind, the news at all, since he retired- those who have come after him are merely imposters!
Events like these mark the passage of centuries and decades and years; and they come and go, but it's the small, simple things that last. With that, I've come up with my list for this week:
1. My glorious petunias. (I couldn't get
weeds to grow in Wyoming!)
2. Watching Patrick Swayze for the umpteenth time in one of my favorite movies, Dirty Dancing. It's
classy steamy!
It's a short list this week. Thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment