Gee, how could I have missed this anniversary?

[dreamflower]

Thank you to children_of_lir for reminding me so beautifully by posting this:

I never heard or saw this song before, but it's amazingly beautiful.

Were you around 43 years ago yesterday? If so what were you doing?

I was seventeen. My family was on vacation, visiting my favorite aunt in Virginia, and we were all glued to the television set. Afterwards I went off into a corner with a notebook and wrote a poem-- I still have it around somewhere, and perhaps I will post it later if I can find it.

Comments

[shirebound]

I was 13, and remember it well. We did lots of reports in school about the mission, and I remember how exciting it was.

[addie71.livejournal.com]

I was 16 and visiting grandparents in Tennessee. That night we were all sitting out on my Grandma's front porch looking at the moon and marveling.

[elandulin.livejournal.com]

I was 19. Watched it with my family and the boyfriend would later become my husband of 40 years (and an airline pilot, so it was doubly fascinating for him). Absolutely awe-inspiring. My mother--a huge sic-fi fan--was just transported by it, thrilled beyond measure. The irony there was that her sister was one of those people who insisted for the rest of her life that the whole thing had been filmed on a sound-stage in Burbank!!

[mumstheword54.livejournal.com]

I was 14, and we were all glued to the teevee, as we always were with Space Program telecasts.

A "Giant Leap" indeed -- and what fun watching the low-gravity bouncing!

We were proud of this great nation and her great people that day. Still are.

[meneleth.livejournal.com]

I was at a Bobby Sherman concert! My Dad picked me up afterwards and we got home just a little bit before the Eagle landed. I vividly remember our breathless excitement at watching a man actually set foot on the moon.

[frolijahfan.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, "Hope Eyrie" could be considered to be "the" anthem of filk music. Leslie is a songwriter/composer of great gifts and has written many many filks, including, perhaps most notoriously, "Banned from Argo," about the (mis)adventures of the (original) crew of the Enterprise on shore leave and why they can never go back to Argo. You could find some of her recordings at www.prometheus-music.com/
I was 12 and I remember being called out of my room to come and watch it on TV.

[children-of-lir.livejournal.com]

Leslie's original version can be downloaded for free off of her website:

http://lesliefish.com/frameset1.htm

[ellynn-ithilwen.livejournal.com]

I wasn't around, but I didn't miss the anniversary. ;) We had a lecture last week on our observatory about astronautics and Apollo 11. :)

[dreamflower]

I love Lesley Fish! I have a cassette of a set of SCA filks she collaborated on with Joe Bethancourt! I played the heck out of that cassette; it's still in good shape and I'm trying to get the DH to turn it into a CD for me. (We have a special combo CD/cassette/vinyl/AM-FM that records as well as plays.)

[dreamflower]

Thank you! And thank you for posting the vid today! I tried to comment, but LJ picked that moment to get all weird.

[dreamflower]

That's neat! It was such an exciting thing! It seems that during the sixties there were all these major events that brought people to their TVs to join in-- but except for the space program, all the ones I remember were sad: assassinations, natural disasters, riots.

But the space program was something everyone could join in in a good way.

[dreamflower]

Bobby Sherman! He wasn't my heartthrob or anything, but I liked him. (Loved "Here Come the Brides"!) What an end to an amazing evening!

[dreamflower]

Yes, the Apollo missions and the missions that lead up to them were one of the few non-tragic major events in the sixties.

Everyone was glued to their TVs for JFK's assasination, and Bobby's and MLK's; everyone, it seemed watched the riots and Kent State and Hurricane Camille. But those were sad things.

Only our reach for space made everyone happy together!

[dreamflower]

Oh, that is too ironic for words! I don't understand why there are people who to this day do not believe the moon-landings happened!

[dreamflower]

I know. It was just all too amazing for words!

[dreamflower]

It truly was an amazing and stunning event!

[children-of-lir.livejournal.com]

Joe is here as ioseph_locksley...

[meneleth.livejournal.com]

Bobby was definitely a hearthrob of mine. He came to Buffalo several times and the first couple were at a smaller outdoor venue called Melody Fair. I was lucky enough to be right up front to see him both times there. Then he came a time or two to appear locally for the Jerry Lewis telethon and my parents let me go down to the station, so I got to shake his hand (swoon) when I made my donation. Ah those were the days!

[fantasy-fan.livejournal.com]

I was 11 and we were having a first communion party at our house, all the relatives were there. I remember that time as one of innocent optimism: we just knew we could do anything. And for the most part, we did. I think it is one of the saddest things that we've lost that sense.