Events from our youth that really stuck with us
 

One of the events that has had a life long impact on me was seeing the Pieta at the New York Worlds Fair in 1964.

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We were ushered onto a "people mover" such as you see in airports. It moved very slowly past the statue affording me a long look. We moved in absolute silence. No sound other than the mechanical sound of the conveyor. No one spoke and certainly no one took pictures. In my memory it was like being in church.

My 12 year old self thought then as I think now "how can an artist capture such a moment in stone?". "How can they create such profound beauty in a block of rock?" From then on I have been more appreciative of art whether created by humans or nature.

I am happy to say that even now at 71 yo I can still stand in wonder at such things.

So, what experience from your youth has had a lasting impact on you?

Must of been 8-10 years old and Dad shouting at me "Boy, you're as worthless as Tits on a Boar".

Thanksgivings in San Francisco with the extended family.

I learned everything I needed to about life, love, humor...just remarkable.

The assassination of RFK and MLK, never trusted the "system" since then.

Mystery Spot in the U.P. of MI when I was 5 years old. :D

Standing Honor Guard for our Scout Master and members of his family after their lives were lost in a motor vehicle accident. The first time someone close had died.

Best
Les

It was my mother telling me, "You'll never amount to a hill of beans." I got that daily from a young kid to mid or later teens.

I also remember the day Kennedy was assassinated. I was working in construction in Westchester County in N.Y. when the company forman came up and told me. The hair on the back of my neck stood up - a very distinct memory.

Jaws. I was little and knew enough to not enter the water for a long time. It scared the hell outta me to the point that I think the damn fish was going to come out of the drain in my bathtub. Deathly afraid to shower or bath but my mother would get so upset at me for dragging my feet about a shower.

Putting away a fire which was engulfing my childhood friend when we were 12. He suffered serious burns. I still wonder if there was something else I could have done or done differently.

The Kennedy assignation.

The Pueblo captured by North Korea. That one affected my personally as my dad was stationed in South Korea at just before the capture. He was home on leave to be with the family and supposed to be with us for 4 weeks. On the second nigh back home, he got a call, late at night telling him to pack his backs, and a car will come pick him up, and he is going back to South Korea ASAP. We did not see him for over 12 months. No phones calls, only letters back and forth. Long before the internet so no video conferring, just snail mail that took weeks to go either way.

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The Cuban Missile Crisis

I remember as a kid riding in the back of our '53 Chevy and hearing a news report come on the radio as it was unfolding. Just by the tone of it, and the way my folks talked afterwards, I knew this was serious business.

I can still picture the entire moment in my mind's eye all these years later...

Seeing my first Corvette. A '54 at a 76 gas station. I was nothing but a kid go kart racer, mini bike terror and Corvette aspirational kid with more wrenches than my dad. Fell into VW's along the way and you know where that leads.

One thing that has been an event, so to speak, is my interest in Ferrari's. I've never even sat in just one. At this point I think that's a goal not to reach because after everything else, I'm sure it would disappoint.

Let's call that the event that stuck with me that never happened. Any win in any motor race is never forgotten.

Kenedy assassination in 1963 - I was 13, I remember that day well.
The USA and world events in 1968 and 1969. Very turbulent time.
Halloween 1969, I got into some trouble with drugs. The first time my dad ever took a day off to find out how much trouble I was in. That was the first time I made my mom cry.

Oh yeah. I still remember hiding under my desk during air raid drills.

The 1968 World Series. As a 9 year old Tiger’s fan it was among the best times in my life.

Willie Horton, Gates Brown, Bill Freehan, Dick McCauliff, Jim Northrop, Mickey Lolich, Al Kaline, Mickey Stanley, Don Wert and the list goes on. I remember it like it was yesterday.

^^^ Same here. The games were all afternoon games and I remember rushing home from school to catch the later innings.
Mickey Lolich was the hero of the series.

I was in front of the b&w tv to see Freehan settling under the pop-up to seal the final game.

I remember getting marched to some public place and standing in lines to get shots. Polio, Mumps, Measles, ChickenPox...maybe LSD and ritalin for all anyone knew....

Growing up in a semi-rural place, the yearly County Fair was also a big deal. We'd 'do' all the buildings and stockyards, listening to hawkers sell some crap, looking at crops and foods and flowers and animals and art and then we'd get set loose at the carnival for the rides and food.

(Jeezus, it was kind of like Mayberry. 60 pies on a table and 3 of 'em got ribbons; I'll bet Aunt Bea and Claire were fighting tooth and nails for those prizes!)

Family member's suicide when I was a kid. It changed everything.

I was in second grade and my best friend Leonard and I got sent to the principal for goofing around in class. The principal gave me a lecture but Leonard got a whooping. Leonard was an African American child. That was my first experience with racism. Why was he spanked and I wasn’t? Sticks with me to this day.

Staying overnight a with our cows at the county fair when 8 was 10 was a real eye opener. The 10 year olds were the youngest allowed to stay. Being thrown in with the older teenagers unsupervised, we were introduced to a world i didn’t know existed. They had girls, top 40 music, cars, cigarettes. I don’t remember booze but I’ll bet there was some in the trailers the rich farmers had. We had to sleep on bales of straw behind the cattle stalls, not that we got a lot of sleep. Good times, and a steep learning curve on growing up.
And also Deanna Cunningham, but that was a few years later.;)