Reflections on a Lifetime

May 8, 2010 The First 60 Years

I was born 5 years after V-E day which was May 8, 1945 (you do the math)! When I was born, Harry Truman was the President – the Korean War was underway.

When I was a child National Airport had propeller planes and we used to go there to the Observation Deck to watch take offs and landings! In 1958 the first jet arrived.

The first Presidential election I remember was in 1960 (Eisenhower was President from 1952 to 1960 so I thought he had always been there!!). Like many others, I was enamored with the Kennedys and was glued to the television for 3 days in 1963 when President Kennedy was killed. Less than a year later, my father died and had a military funeral at Arlington.

The Cold War was a big part of my life as a child. We lived right outside DC, which everyone knew was a target. We did “duck and cover” exercises during school until I was in high school when, for some reason, it stopped. I remember a drill during PE – we’d just finished our showers and were “ducking and covering” under the benches by the lockers – wrapped in tiny towels with bare bums out! My father had a special card that would get him out of town – I think he was to go to Wright Patterson AFB in Ohio – but the family had to stay. Once I went to Intermediate School I worried that if something happened, my brother, my mother and I would all be in different places and wouldn’t be together at the end. Talk about stress levels! The Cuban Missile Crisis certainly ramped things up a bit – we were close to DC and the missiles of October could reach that far! It was frightening to see my parents so concerned – nightly news and press conferences and Presidential speeches – all became regular parts of the evening.

I was glued to the television again in 1969 when men first walked on the moon – pictures were grainy and black and white but so exciting! Besides, President Nixon had given federal employees the day off to watch the moon landing – and I was working that summer for the Department of the Navy!

Throughout the sixties I watched the Vietnam War unfold on television – Huntley and Brinkley (NBC) and Walter Cronkite (CBS) broadcast it in living color right at dinner time. I was married in 1972 and then left alone as my new husband was deployed on the last East Coast ships sent to the South China Sea. The war was winding down but that didn’t stop the worrying! Two children arrived in the 70s, along with more deployments and several moves.

I have tried to keep up with technology over the years. My first computer was an Apple IIGS we bought in 1985 – in 1992 my kids and I got a PC that had Windows 3.1 (Woot!!). Now there are about 7 computers in the house (2 are mine!!) and most are laptops and wireless!! I got personal email in 1996 or so – now I have two personal accounts (actually 3 but I don’t use the 3rd) plus the work email. I now have a blog, use a wiki and have accounts on MySpace (which I haven’t visited in a long time) and Facebook (which I use daily). I have a Twitter account but, honestly, my life isn’t that important and I don’t care about most of the Tweets!! I have a smart phone (Blackberry) and text and email with it much more than I use it as a telephone! I keep in touch with my sons more via text than telephone!

Only a short look at 60 years - but a start!  Here's to the next 60 - a lot of changes yet to come.