The Land Of Dreams...And Nightmares

 On social media today there were the expected political posts, opinions on selling short on stocks, and views on other news items of the day.

There were also several "Where were you when...?" posts.

I remember where I was January 28, 1986. I read the headline and didn't understand it at all.

Of course, the headline wasn't written in English, but Danish, and it said a spaceship exploded. That made absolutely no sense to me. In Denmark, in the mid-1980s, newspapers had little signs outside convenience stores, tobacco shops, and bakeries. The signs had huge headlines to catch the attention of the average Dane, or an American living overseas wearing a tag on their suit coat pocket identifying them as a Christian missionary.

I read the paper headline as we took our morning walk to the bakery for our breakfast snack. I had no idea what they meant when they used the word, "rumskib." I envisioned the USS Enterprise. It wasn't until I returned to the mission office when we found out it was the Space Shuttle Challenger.

I read about the disaster and found out the cause of the explosion originated in Utah. It's where the booster rockets were built and tested.

Turns out, they still test rockets in Utah. And now we live a few miles from the testing site. One week ago today, we heard and felt a rumble. After it stopped we noticed a large smoke cloud above the western mountains. I assumed it was a rocket test and yesterday, the local newspaper confirmed our suspicions. 

In reading the many "where were you when" posts today and from people's personal stories in the past, the event had a huge impact on America. I can't share that impact--I wasn't part of that communal experience, even though it was shocking. It's strange to be living so close to the area forever connected to that event.