There have been many defining moments in my life -moments that were memorable for different reasons, whether good or bad, but, nevertheless, exacted some kind of change upon me.
The closing of my elementary school - the announcement was met with such sadness by the staff, that, even as a second-grader, I felt its importance. When my teacher pulled me aside and gave me the doll-house that had graced her room since her earliest teaching days, I was touched. Of course, I was only 7, so when I later traded it for the pull-to-rev-it-up motor cycle ... well, one can understand my naivete.
The day Ronald Reagan was shot - my 6th grade teacher rolled the huge television cart into the room, and just stood there, with his arm resting on the cart, shaking his head, and saying, "What is wrong with this world?" Never ... ever... forget...it...
The day my mom came home from the hospital, with the final diagnosis on my sister's illness. She drove into the garage, opened the car door, and then ... just sat there, sobbing. It killed me.
There are more, so many more. Deaths, of family members and friends, world events, personal joys and crises alike. And, one year ago today, when my baby was placed inside what appeared to be a picnic cooler and flown almost one hundred miles away ... yeah, that would definitely rank up there with "Most Memorable Events". Like all the others, it defined me for awhile - and changed me forever. So, here's to you, Em, and to the staff of the hospitals who took care of you that day, and all the days that followed - and most of all to the people on that helicopter who took you away from us. I did not get their names, barely remember their faces, only recall their gentleness with you and their grace with me. But I will never forget the day you took your first flight.
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