I was on a short trip last week with loved ones up in Savannah, GA and Beaufort, SC. While in Beaufort, we were browsing in some of the shops in the historic district of town, one of which happened to be a bookstore. While looking through the book selections, I came across a copy of an old Lewis Grizzard book titled “Elvis is Dead and I’m Not Feeling So Good Myself.”  I decided to purchase this one as I used to love to read articles written by Grizzard which were often observations about southern life and things near and dear to southern folks like football, country living, and northern people (Yankees) who had little understanding of southern ways and culture.

As a side note to this, I also read several other of his books and especially a couple about him having heart surgery. One of these was titled “They Tore Out My Heart and Stomped That Sucker Flat.” After I had my own heart surgery several years ago, I re-read this one and had a whole new understanding of his descriptions and accounts of having and recovering from major heart surgery.

Anyway, I began reading the recently purchased book this afternoon. The first essay was about the day Elvis Presley died and therefore, the story which gave the book its title. In the essay, he told of where he was when he heard the news, recalling a group of friends that was with him when he heard the news and their collective reactions to the news.

For those of us of a certain age, just a couple of facts about the day Elvis died. The event happened way back in August 1977. For those doing the math, that was 44 years ago this past August. And, for those who may not remember, Elvis was only 42 years old when he passed from this world to eternity. So, the shock factor to me as I was reading was the fact that he has now been dead longer than he lived.

As I was reading, it took me back in time to the day I heard the news about Elvis’ passing and caused me to have a Wow! moment. I was on my morning commute to Altha Public School to work and heard the news while I was driving my old 1967, Burgundy and White, Mercury Cougar. I had the chance to see him once while living in Pensacola and passed it up, thinking he was old and out of style. This was one of those things I have often regretted not doing. Truly a chance to see one of the all-time greats missed, never to have the opportunity again.

As I was reading the essay by Grizzard on the passing of Elvis, he made a point of detailing this as one of those times in life that he marked as a milestone moment. This was because he, being a few years older than me, counted Elvis as the iconic figure in music of his teenage years. He wrote about the discussions with his friends and even listed several of their favorite songs. As I read the article, it was obvious this day was one of those days in life that you remember where you were when you heard the news.

Then, as I seem to do nowadays more than I used to, I began to ponder the numbers of milestone days that I have experienced. I feel sure there are many of you who are close to my age (68), maybe a few years younger or few years older, can recall with clarity where you were when you “heard the news” or experienced the feelings from events listed below.  These are just a few that came to my mind that impacted our world and certainly not an exhaustive list of everything that could have been included. I could have listed others that would be applicable to my own personal life or family. I am sure many of you could do the same for your own life or family.

• The Cuban Missile Crisis – I can still recall even as a young boy that I could sense in my Dad and Mom the concern this caused them. This may be one of the few times in my young life that I sensed fear in my parents.

• The day President Kennedy was assassinated. I was on the playground at Bonifay Elementary School. Remember teachers crying in the halls as we came back into the building, not fully realizing as a child the enormity of the event in history

• The time back many years ago when the bull jumped over the fence up into the stands on the west side of the field at the rodeo. The clowns and rodeo personnel went up into the stands and eventually got the bull to jump back over the fence and back into the arena area. Not a particularly historic event for the world but since the rodeo was just held a few days back, it came into my mind as an event that many of a certain age recall. Also somewhat of an urban legend about the Bonifay rodeo as it seems to me about 200,000 people report seeing it when it happened though to the best of my memory, it happened only once and was way back in the 1960s when it took place.

• The Challenger space shuttle explosion. I witnessed this tragedy in person along with a group of other educators from Holmes County, in fact from around the entire state, who were attending an education conference in Orlando, FL. They allowed us to take a break to watch the launch which could be seen even from 40 or so mile away as it rose into the cold, blue sky that morning. We were on a high floor in the Sheraton Twin Towers Hotel, looking toward the Cape and when the launch took place, we could clearly see the Challenger as it rose above the tree lines/horizon, leaving the single steam trail behind as it rose, Then the explosion happened which created the twin steam trails that are so often shown in photos of the event. Like the rest of the world, we stood in shock and horror as the story quickly switched from one of celebration to one of disbelief and sadness at the loss of lives aboard the spaceship.

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• 911 and the horror of the attack on our nation. I was in Lake City, FL getting ready to do a training for other school principals. The event was obviously canceled, and all attendees were immediately sent home.

• Hurricane Michael – Home and watching the weather and praying for our entire area of the state as this soon-to-be Category 5 storm strengthened by the hour and slammed into north Florida.

• Several others that I will not list which are purely personal such as having children, or the loss of loved ones, family members, and friends.

I could probably list several other events that have become milestone moments in our nation or area of the world. But, with the ones listed above, I would think that many of you can also relate to these days and moments in our history.

It is true that time does indeed keep marching on and these milestone days serve as reminders of both the good and bad times of life.