Where were you when...

Some people remember where they were when Kennedy was shot - November 22, 1963. Not me since I wasn't born yet.

Some people remember where they were when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon - July 20, 1969. Again, not me, I still had not been born yet. That lovely event happened 3 1/2 months after the first moon walk.

Some people remember where they were when the Vietnam War ended - Paris Peace Accord signed January 27, 1973 and final US troop withdrawal on March 29, 1973. I was alive at this time but alas do not remember anything since I was only 3 years old.

Some people remember where they were when the hostages were released in Iran - January 21, 1981. I was in Mrs. King's 5th grade classroom huddled around a radio listening to it unfold.

Some people remember where they were when the space shuttle Challenger exploded - January 26, 1986. I was a sophomore in high school and was walking down the stairs to lunch when someone asked, "did you hear about the shuttle exploding?" I thought it was a joke and was waiting for the punchline. It was no joke.

Some people remember where they were when the Oklahoma City bombing happened - April 19, 1995. I don't know where I was at the exact moment but I do remember watching the coverage for days on end. I so related to Edye Smith whose young boys; Chase, age 3, and Colton, age 2, were killed at the day care center housed in the federal building. My now teenage sons were 1 1/2 years and 4 months old at the time. I was heartbroken for her and all the victims.

Most people remember where they were when the World Trade Center was attacked - September 11, 2001. I was in my office (it was a payroll processing day for us) and someone came to our door and said a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center. Again, like with the shuttle explosion, I thought it was a joke. They said to go look on the tv in the cafeteria. I got in the cafeteria just in time to see the 2nd plane hit. I couldn't believe it. Much of the rest of that day was spent gathered around those tvs. Like I said, we were processing our payroll too so we had to pull ourselves away for periods at a time to actually work but it was hard. I also was watching when the towers came crumbling down.

So, having said all that...

Where were you when history was made once again and we elected our first black President - November 4, 2008? I was doing laundry. I hadn't really been watching the results on tv since Jace had control of the remote but I had been checking in on ABCNews.com. When I put Jace to bed and went down to change the laundry, Obama had 207 electoral votes. When I came back up like 5 minutes later, Charlie Gibson was declaring Obama the President-elect. I was like, "whoa, what happened in the last 5 minutes". Thank god I have DVR so I rewound live tv (yes I can) and tuned back in as Charlie was saying "some stations will break away for local news but the polls close in California in 10 seconds". ...DRAMATIC PAUSE... "ABC can now say that Barak Obama has been elected our next President. He will take California and it's 55 electoral votes, and he will take Washington with it's 11 electoral votes...". And that was it; electoral vote count at 273 at that point, Barak Obama had become our 44th President and made history as the first black President.