Your First "Where Were You Moment?"

[Cranjis McBasketball]

I imagine a lot these are going to be 9/11, but what huge moment is that thing you remember where you were and what was happening when it

For me and what got me to thinking of it was reading Elton John's autobio. I was at my cousin's wedding reception and my aunt (her mom) came in from a cigarette and told us Princess Diana was killed in a car accident.

Another that's kind of close but not really the same thing is my mom said when she was pregnant with my brother, she was dreaming and had a dream where the furnace exploded. She woke up and turned on the TV and the Challenger had blown up. It's a story she told a lot, I was too young to ever remember it, but it's something to remember anyway.

[The Legendary Ring Troll {BLM}]

100% 9/11. I woke up late for class in my senior year of High School. Saw it on the TV before I went to school. At school, my journalism class was watching coverage of the crashes in New York live.

I honestly can’t think of any other moment that matches how it feels to remember exactly where I was. I barely remember where I was this morning.

[Deleted]

I remember being in Sophomore History class for 9/11. I went to an early start school so it was already second period passing. We walked in the room and the teachers had a TV cart in there watching the news with the building on fire. We were relegated to stay in whatever class we were in the rest of the day basically until school buses took everyone home like an hour and a half later. For the rest of that time, it was a bunch of nerdy kids trying to outdo each other in acting like they totally knew what was going on (a bunch, at the time, thought it was some sort of coordinated attack and other major US cities were going to be hit with different kinds of attacks).

[Duke Cameron]

Actually, It was 911. I was in my apartment listening to Howard Stern on the radio. Stern and company were the ones who actually told me what was going on.

[Joe Neglia]

The Challenger explosion. I was in 4th grade, and all the classes were going to go to the cafeteria to watch the launch. My class was late because when Ms. Lott had us line up at the door, a couple of kids started kinda-fighting and delayed us. I can remember we were turning down the hall, still in formation, and as we were coming around the corner, another teacher in tears ran past us. We were stopped and sent back to the classroom.

[Perd]

I remember they brought a TV into my 3rd grade class, so we could watch Bill Clinton’s first inauguration. They did the same thing, in 5th grade, for the OJ verdict. That second one is kinda nuts, when I think about it. And clearly a case of the teachers not wanting to miss it.

But I was just a little kid during those events. 9/11 is definitely the first event, in my life, where I could fully comprehend how much the world had just changed. Senior year of high school. I left when the second plane hit and got home to see the first tower collapse. And just stayed glued to the TV. That night, just to catch our breath, my mom and I went to Walmart. It was like a goat town and CNN was playing over the PA. Just totally surreal.

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

9/11 is a pretty obvious one, but I also remember being sick from school on the day of the Columbine shooting and laying on my aunt's couch watching that horrific news, though my memory of that day isn't quite as vivid as 9/11.

[Larryhausen]

Honestly, the OJ chase is the first moment of my life that I remember exactly where I was. It was my last day of 4th grade. Mom picked us up, went to Toys r Us because I had a great report card, got home and instead of cartoons, every channel was just covering that damn car chase.

Columbian was the next, mostly because I was a 15 year old goth pot head who cut school that day(4/20).

The next day at school was the first time literally EVERYONE was nice to me.

[ayumidah]

The Gulf War. I was 3 years old and my father was watching reports about it on the news, and my mother lectured him for scaring me.

[OldDirtyBernie]

A few days before summer break, 1994. I was in 4th grade and our school got locked down when the news broke that a student attending my future high school had murdered his Mother, Father, and two younger sisters then went to school with a gun and held a class hostage. I remember our teacher sent some kids to another teacher's room but a few of us requested to stay and watch news coverage.

Just to continue the theme, I was in a 2-dimensional study lab my freshman year of college when a buddy of mine came in and asked if I was listening to Howard Stern that morning. I hadn't, so he filled me in. When the teacher walked in, she knew what was going on and I formed people who didn't know. She told us to focus on our projects quietly and turned on the radio so we could listen. When we heard about the plane hitting the Pentagon, I ran out and called my Mom to see if she'd heard from my aunt, whose husband frequently visited the Pentagon for work; luckily he wasn't assigned there that day.
I went to my second class of the day, Concepts in Art, while everything was still unfolding. That instructor came in, gave a VERY short lecture about what was happening, then immediately dismissed us saying there was no point in continuing the class.

[crashmatsbazz]

I was thinking about this the other day, I think it was the hillsborough tragedy, I remember hearing about it on the radio in my friends mum's car. she drove us home and she was in tears cos she was from Liverpool. The rest of the day was really strange and even though we were in Manchester everyone was shocked by what had happened.
Also I think a few months later the Tank man in Tiananmen Square happened and I clearly remember watching the news with my dad and him trying to explain to me what was happening.

[Ultimo Gallos]

Dec 11, 2019 1:19:19 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

The Challenger explosion. I was in 4th grade, and all the classes were going to go to the cafeteria to watch the launch. My class was late because when Ms. Lott had us line up at the door, a couple of kids started kinda-fighting and delayed us. I can remember we were turning down the hall, still in formation, and as we were coming around the corner, another teacher in tears ran past us. We were stopped and sent back to the classroom.

Same here I was in 6th grade I think. Our teacher had brought her tiny portable tv. Took us forever to get a channel tuned in and then seeing the shuttle explode was shocking.

[carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army)]

The Atlanta bombings. I was a young teenager, staying up late over the summer, the first year my parents didn't harangue me to go to bed. Had the TV on and... damn, breaking news.

[I'm Team Bayley and Indi]

A minutes silence for the victims of an IRA bombing was like the first tragic real world event I noticed

[Beebs is the Final Girl]

John Lennon death. Howard Cosell announced it during MNF. I was only 5, but I remember being sad.

I was home sick from 5th grade on Challenger day. Watched it with my mom.

[Citizen Snips Has Left]

I was 5, having lunch at a friend's house when his mom shooed us out of the kitchen real fast when the Challenger exploded. I was too young to really understand it, just knew it was something bad based on her reaction.

[clifford]

I was always under the impression that 9/11 and JFK's assassination are the only things to qualify as a 'Where were you when...?' moment. At least, these are the only moments I've ever seen spoken about in that way.

[Push R Truth]

Everybody from Grade 1 to Grade 12 was huddled around TV's on a day late in January. There was this big educational push to watch NASA's launch of the Challenger.
Watched interviews and stories about Christa McAuliffe the teacher who was going into space. Then watched her die along with the rest of the crew. A lot of kids learned about life that day. A lot of adults learned about hard conversations with children that day.

I'd venture this was "The" major generational shared experience by almost everybody that was in school that day.

[Dr. T is an alien]

Dec 11, 2019 1:19:19 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

The Challenger explosion. I was in 4th grade, and all the classes were going to go to the cafeteria to watch the launch. My class was late because when Ms. Lott had us line up at the door, a couple of kids started kinda-fighting and delayed us. I can remember we were turning down the hall, still in formation, and as we were coming around the corner, another teacher in tears ran past us. We were stopped and sent back to the classroom.

This was the first one that I thought of when I read the title, especially since it was watched in school because of Christa McAuliffe being on the flight. Another big one, especially in retrospect, was the Chernobyl Disaster.

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

9/11, sophomore year religion class (catholic high school)

I remember hearing about bad news events before that from OKC (1995, so I was 9) probably at the earliest to Columbine, but not in a "remembering where I was" sort of way.