Preparation Day

We did something fun and different last Friday (our p-day).  We went out to an early dinner in downtown Dallas (fun and something we would never have done without Nori and Travis’s recommendation and gift card since it was way outside our comfort zone – i.e. valet parking, linen napkins and tablecloths, overly expensive, even a Lamborgini parked near the front door - if that tells you anything about the kind of people who go there). Afterward we decided to visit The Sixth Floor Museum because it was nearby. 

Pork Chops (about 5 inches thick) at Perry's Steakhouse in downtown Dallas

Tickets to The Sixth Floor Museum

For an hour and a half we went back in time to the 60’s when John F. Kennedy served as president, and we remembered the events of the day he visited Dallas and was assassinated while driving through the crowds that were eager to see a United States president and to welcome him to their city. His significant contributions to the world were reviewed, and it brought back so many memories about life in the 60’s.  We stood at the window in the book depository overlooking Elm Street below where the shooter hid with his rifle waiting for the president’s motorcade to be in his sights. Our minds raced back to where we were on that fateful day. I was sitting in Mrs. Olson’s second grade class (age 7) at Roy Elementary School. All textbook learning stopped as televisions (black/white - no color yet) were brought into the classroom, and we watched the events of that day unfold . . .  and mourned the loss of a president with the entire nation.  We remembered such things as the development of the space program and the first man walking on the moon (age 13), the advances of technology (Kennedy's was the first televised presidential debate and television allowed everyone for the first time to watch events covering that fateful day as they unfolded), the role he played in ending segregation and dealing with racial injustices, clips of famous speeches he gave, his very young family and wife, Jackie, who was so beautiful and so loved by the nation and the world. We remembered the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 (mainly the drills we had in elementary school to quickly crawl under our desks and cover our heads if we heard the siren). We remembered watching the swearing in of President Johnson on Air Force One an hour after the shooting, Jackie standing by his side, watching the detailed television coverage of the funeral a few days later – everyone watched because they could - and the later investigations, reports, and controversy around whether Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. It was a powerful review of that time in history and a great contrast to the office of president and government today. It was sobering to be standing/driving/walking in the area around Dealey Plaza in Dallas.