Moment in History

Today for us but yesterday for others will be one of those days that goes into history.
It may become one of those days that people will have in their "Remember when..." files.

I think people will remember where and what they were doing when President Barack Obama won the campaign to serve "4 more years" in the White House.
It was important to us that the boys watch what was being shown here in New Zealand on the television about it, well we made them watch his acceptance speech.
Ben (9) was not sure why we were making him watch it, although we did explain that maybe one day he might remember it and realise what we made him watch.
Alex (7) sat on my lap and proceeded to draw the American flag in his notebook, making me count the stripes on the flags we watched being waved on the tv and working out how to draw the 50 stars.

I am glad we made them watch it, doubt they took much from it, but at least Ben will be able to join in the news discussion at school tomorrow.

I however decided that it was something that needed to be journalled. So I attempted my first public displayed scrap book page.
Quite odd that the first one I use has no pictures and is not too family orientated.

Thanks to Sweet Pea Designs for the ability to gain some free embellishments from her Proud American Freebie Posts. Not much call for American Election embellishments here in New Zealand, so really happy to discover her July 4th Freebies that worked just as well in my layout.

I am not sure about the date I have used on this LO though? As the election was all on Nov 6, but to us it was Nov 7. May alter the layout to show Nov 6 somewhere just for historical purposes?

Sad Loss

Today I heard some news that hit my heart hard....
Sadly Neil Armstrong aged 82, (5th Aug 1930 - 25th Aug 2012) the first man onto the moon, had lost his fight against heart trouble. He had died following complications to heart surgery he had a few weeks ago.

I actually had grief for someone I don't know.

However in a small way I do know him. Or at least I know about him. I have taken an interest in him.
You see back in 1986 my parents moved to America and why to this day I will never understand, we ended up living in a small city in North West Ohio called Wapakoneta (pronounced Wapa kon eta) also known as Wapak.

It is a small city, pop of just over 9000, located on I75 at junction 111.
Its main claim to fame..........it is the birth place of Neil Armstrong. It is where he was born on 5th August 1930.
When we lived there in 1986, his parents were both still alive and they lived on the renamed street of Neil Armstrong Drive and they were lovely people, I know I met them.
Well more like I spent sometime with them holding a hosepipe over a ladder whilst people ran the marathon around the town that was part of the annual Race to The Moon.
We held a hosepipe up because the summers in Wapak are hot.
Just today I checked with the local paper and they were in the 90's (about 32c for all of us) so yes hot, but then in the winter they get cold cold and have snow, so from one extreme to another.

It is a small Indian city, where when we lived there I felt time had forgotten it.
Lima is the closest large place and was the place to go for civilisation!
Although you could survive very nicely without ever leaving Wapak.
Kids in typical fashion would complain about the size of Wapak and the lack of up to date activities however many seem to fall back there to live and raise their own families, so it can't be all that bad a place to be.

I have lived in many places during my life and of all the places I have lived, Wapak is the place I left my heart.

So to all my friends in Wapakoneta, Ohio, you are in my thoughts and prayers, as you go through this sad time.
And to everyone else, the next time you see the moon at night, look at it with love in your heart and show a smile or wink for Neil Armstrong, the man who made history but to this day felt he never did anything special apart from just doing his job.

God bless you Neil Armstrong, you will be sadly missed

17

This past weekend I found some new blogs, this all came about because Rinda, who organised the scavenger hunt I am currently undertaking, did a catch up
This allowed us (all 70 of us) to link up with her and go and view what the others had been photographing for the hunt.

One blog I got to reading mentioned about being 17, at the time she was 17 but everyone else that linked up to the post were writing about when they were 17.
This got me thinking to when I was 17, to when I turned 17, which if I have to be honest is just coming up to 25 years ago! Yes I turned 17 in 1987.

When I turned 17 my parents were living in America in Ohio.
My brother was with them going to Junior High and I was in England at boarding school on my own.
I was just starting my last year of my O Levels, yes I was in the group of students who were the last to complete O Levels, everyone after us took GCSE’s.

I was loving life and having a lot of fun. I was loving school where I was taking my normal courses plus singing in the choir, playing the clarinet. I remember during this year going on choir trips to other schools to sing evensong.

I remember that when I flew back to school after Christmas I got stranded at Newark Airport about an hour before my flight was due to leave. It had started to snow and the flight from the day before had been cancelled. I was not a happy traveller when I managed to get in touch with my dad before my flight left.

The Easter after I turned 17 my parents were not sure if they were going to be in the US so I stayed in England for the holidays on my own and travelled around to stay with relatives and friends. I got to stay wherever I wanted, I planned my itinerary and had a wonderful time travelling between people and staying a few days.

When the school year finally ended my parents were still in America so I flew over there ready to go to High School. I got to go to Band Camp ready to start the new school year and had a great summer hanging out with friends I already knew in the small town we lived in.
Sadly I never made it to High School, immigration caught up with my dad and gave us 7 days to leave the country. It was a great 7 days too.

So there is a sneaky view of my life coming up to 25 years ago.

History

40 years ago today I was not even born!

I was a thought but not even a twinkling in my parents eye.

My parents lived in Southampton, England and on the other side of the world, or stars even, 3 guys were making history.........they were walking on the moon.

Yes that is right, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins were up there in the sky 'taking one giant step for mankind'

Another piece of history or rather geography was that at the moment Neil Armstrong took a step on the moon, then the small town of Wapakoneta, Ohio was firmly cemented on the map as well.

Although it is amazing how many people do not know this town.

I have actually had the awesome privilege to live in this town, and given an extra special heart beat I would be back there tomorrow.

Why?.....I don't actually know, it just struck a cord with me and will stay with me for ever.

The city of Wapakoneta is within the Auglaize County of Ohio, it is situated on I75 at exit 111, just where State Highway 33 crosses I75. It is approximately 60 miles north of Dayton and 80 miles North West of Columbus.

It has a population of 9500 (2000 Cencus) and is originally an old Indian area. Most of the streets are named after Indians with the exception of the odd streets that are named after Neil Armstrong. Places like Apollo Drive, Lunar Drive and of course Neil Armstrong Drive.

Which in fact is where his parents use to live. In fact I have held a hose pipe with his father!

Every year in Wapak, they have a fun run around part of the city, to celebrate Neil's achievements. The year I was there, which I think was about 86 or 87, I got to do some marshalling for the fun run and my position to monitor was on Neil Armstrong Drive. It was a stinking hot day and his father had erected a hosepipe on top of a ladder at the edge of the street. This then allowed the runners to run through a spray of water as they ran past. So thoughtful.

My only regret from when I lived there was that I never managed to go to the Neil Armstrong Museum that is run by the Ohio Historical Soceity. All the kids I knew at the time, told you what it was like, because it was the local place to end up on a school trip at, but seeing as I never managed to get to High School there, I never got to the museum. This is something that one day I hope to put right.

So on this special day for mankind everywhere. When it gets dark tonight, take a quick glance up at the moon and think about what those 3 awesome men achieved all those years ago.

Another History Making Moment

Yet again, another major history making moment is happening in my lifetime. Ok I am sure there have been many over the past 30 odd years, but I don't remember some of the ones in the beginning.


So today is the big day for the new 44th President of the United States of America.

I know there is an Inauguration every 4 years or so, but I honestly don't remember the last one, maybe it wasn't quite as significant as this one is. I don't even remember Clinton's, maybe they weren't televised as much as this one has been?

I wish him all the luck in the world.