10/15/2013

LIFE as we knew it


Setting Dad's "war relics" aside for this evening, although they seem to be hanging around my shoulders and my dreams. Maybe it is just the continuing gray drizzle, but it feels heavier.

Tonight I am tackling the trunk's contents related to the assassination of President Kennedy fifty years ago. I worry that if I recycle these Lincoln Evening Journal newspapers, the LIFE magazine, and the Omaha World Herald clippings the Kardashians will have won. Our society is so shallow not because we are isolated, but because we are inundated. We put on our goggles, shut out peripheral vision, flutter kick, and just gaze on the Rainbow Fish's pearly bubbles.

I envied the Eastridge Elementary students with the bright yellow raincoats. Mine was clear plastic and had a weird smell that made me hope for a drought. We walked home for lunch that November day, and in my suspect memory we had Campbell's Beef with Barley soup before we heard the news.



© 2013 Nancy L. Ruder

2 comments:

Rosencrantz said...

Lunched at Holmes Elementary and recall walking down the main hallway thinking about having VP Johnson step into his new role. Definitely didn't scratch the surface on that topic.

Kathleen said...

Sad memories. I was in Kearney, NE, and we were sent home from school early, as I recall....