CHALLENGER

Our son Samuel gave an assigned three-minute speech in college about things that happened around the time he was born. He did wonderfully well. And when just now he was telling us about it, he mentioned that the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster happened just four days before he was born, January 28, 1986. And then I remembered where I was when Challenger exploded.

I was sitting in Washington State's Snohomish Country Courthouse waiting for a job interview, along with several other people. Meanwhile our eyes were focused on the television hanging on a wall, because the Challenger was about to take off with its crew of seven, including a school teacher.

Then the unthinkable happened. We watched with pride as the Shuttle climbed into the sky, but then suddenly exploded into pieces! And just then, a person opened the office door, and said, "Mister Lund."

I drifted mindlessly in to be interviewed, totally befuddled in a state of shock. I imagine the potential employer shook my hand but I don't remember, and I sat down, I think, and said, "Did you hear?" 

I told him of the disaster we had just watched, and I was no longer ready for any interview. My mind was in fragments in the sky, and the job was some irrelevant game we were expected to play. I don't remember his questions. I don't remember my answers. I just sat there in unbelief.

I got the job.

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