July 20th

The following video clip is a bit long, about ten minutes, and has a rather abrupt cut-off at the end, but please give it a watch.

 

Such memories.

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED

So, what were you doing on July 20, 1969? I was in Ottawa, glued to the television set, not wanting to miss a second of the moon landing. Barely 11 years old, this event was mind-boggling to me.

My father and I had just moved to Ottawa from B.C., arriving on a hot, sticky Dominion Day. We watched this momentous event at Julie and Al's apartment, my father's friends. Al was living in New York City at the time, working for Marvel Comics. (How I wished I'd kept the comics -- and the envelopes they came in -- he regularly mailed me direct from Marvel!) We sat in their living room, eating GoGo Pizza (bacon and mushroom), watching history unfold before us.

 

July 20th isn't only important to me for the events of 1969. Fast-forward 14 years, to 1983, and more history was about to be made, only this time it was personal.

 

The captain had night court on that fateful Wednesday, and I went downtown with him to do some shopping while he was in court. Into Eaton's I went, finally buying some baby items like sleepers and blankets. You see, I was nine months pregnant and it was two days before my due date. The due date had been changed three times, with the latest date being July 22nd, but I was sure I would be later than that. I'd put off buying anything for the baby until that night, just superstitious I guess. Or psychic.

 

After court was finished, we ate dinner downtown and returned home, sitting out on our porch on that humid summer evening. Not long after we went to bed, I felt a whoosh of water between my legs and nudged the captain. "I need a towel," I said. "I need one now!"

 

He brought me a small hand towel, which made me burst into laughter. "I need a way bigger towel than that!" I told him.

 

"Did the bed spring a leak?" (We had a water bed at the time.)

 

"No, I have. My water's broke."

 

And so off to the hospital we went, around midnight on July 20th, and at 4:37 p.m. on July 21st, our little baby boy was born. And that little baby boy will be 30 years old tomorrow! Where the time goes, I do not know.

 

Here's a photo of our happy little family when Robbie (as he used to be known, before he got older and we switched to Rob) was about three months old. Please ignore my over-sized glasses. It was the 80s, after all.