Wishing Upon A Star

July 17 --- So very sad

Having spent my entire life in Massachusetts, I’ve pretty much been Kennedy saturated for as long as I can remember. In this state, it tends to be a love/hate relationship. Sometimes it’s a realization that they are very hard working and dedicated to political life, and really want to make a difference, and other times you just want to shake your head at the choices some of them make in their personal lives.

But love them or hate them, the tragedies that this family has endured are mind boggling. And now the apparent loss of John Jr. is just so sad. Granted he wasn’t involved in heavy politics and wasn’t trying to snag the spotlight, but he was young, handsome, vital, and deserved to live out his life to his full potential.

I don’t know what it’s been like in the rest of the country, but in the Boston area, all that’s been on television are the search and rescue mission, and then retrospectives about the Kennedys. It's like a deathwatch. They’ve been pulling pieces of the plane and personal items from the sea, and it just gets sadder and sadder. If the reports are accurate, the crash was so violent that there is little hope of survivors. They even have dramatic, tragic sounding music that's leading into each of these reports or when they return from commercials.

Lord knows the commercials don't stop.

I’m one of those people who can remember where she was when national or world tragedies occurred. I was in the fourth grade when JFK was assassinated. I can remember that we had our chairs up on our desks and were ready to go home, when the principal announced on the P.A. that the president had been shot, and we all took down our chairs so we could kneel on them to pray. (I went to parochial school.)

It was also the weekend of the church bazaar and we were all going to the gym to meet our parents who were working there. I remember watching the casket arrive at the airport in Washington and being mad that "The Addams Family" was being preempted. I remember eating all our meals in front of the t.v. to watch all the funeral coverage and watching Oswald get shot while we were eating our Sunday dinner.

Odd the things that stick with you.

I also remember seeing all the Kennedys coming and going from the hospital when Ted was in his plane crash. My Nana was in the same hospital, having broken her hip, and they didn’t let kids in the patient’s rooms. This meant that my brothers and I had to sit in the lobby and wait while our mother was up visiting. We’d spend a lot of time in that waiting room. I remember all the old magazines that were there and that the ladies in the reception area gave me scissors so I could cut out the Betsy McCall paper dolls from each issue of McCalls Magazine.

Of course it was a bustling place as reporters were hanging out waiting to see which Kennedy was going to come in next. I specifically remember the day Jackie Kennedy arrived. She was surrounded by Secret Service, so I can’t say I actually saw much of her, other than the back of her head.

I can tell you where I was when I heard about the Challenger disaster (of course I’ve known Christa McAuliffe’s family for years and years, so that was a bit more personal).

I just remember the oddest things…Bobby Kennedy’s being shot..the Pope..President Reagan.

And of course Princess Diana.

That one devastated me.

I wept for days over a woman I’d only seen in person once (when I was in London I watched her get out of a car to go to a premier..she was stunning), and who wasn’t even from my country. She fascinated me from the time she arrived on the scene and I started reading all the articles I could find about her then. When I went to England I’d scope out where she was going to be and see if there was any chance I’d see her. I don’t know what it was about her that fascinated me so. And I wept and wept for her loss.

I’m not quite as much of a wreck over this loss….but it’s still put a knot in my stomach and makes my heart heavy.
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