Every week at our Creative Writers class our facilitator has the duty of recommending some suggestions about interesting subjects to write about. It isn’t mandatory to do so, so if it doesn’t ring a bell for me I do a little digging into my own personal thoughts. But this one has some very personal recollections for my family and for me.
In July of 1969 our family made a big move from a house we had built ourselves on the outskirts of Muskegon, Michigan, to a small community called Holton, about 25 miles away. It involved changing schools, and driving farther to work each day. We bought a mobile home and 11 acres and a creek flowing thru it. It was just outside of Holton and it had never had electricity run to it. Getting the property all set up took longer than we had thought it would. But we moved in, did get the water installed and that was the main thing. At this time there were four half grown boys, aged 8 to 15 years.
But there was one big problem. The news was full of stories about the upcoming moonwalk and we had no electricity. This was truly an overwhelming event and we all wanted to see it. Since we had no idea when the power company was going to show up we made the decision to go shopping for a large generator. It cost $600 and we really couldn’t afford it but we did it anyway. It was very noisy when it was running so we were lucky we had no close neighbors.
So on July 20, 1969, we all gathered around our little television and watched all of the moon landing together. Outside the generator rumbled but we didn’t care, we were watching history! Watching an event with four young excited boys was a great deal in itself. Looking back is kind of a marvelous thing for a parent to do. I am going to ask those men, now in their 50s and 60s, what do they remember? Was it really a big deal to them at that time? Fifty years ago! I am sure it was. I know it was to me.