General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Where were you 40 years ago this evening when President Richard M. Nixon resigned? [View all]TorchTheWitch
(11,065 posts)I was a kid then. I distinctly remember the day though because the adults were glued to the tv and looking somewhat somber yet vaguely embarrassed. I went for a walk with my Aunt Mary along the beach and asked her to explain what was going on and what it all meant. It was really my first introduction to politics. And I understood that the adults (all hard core Dems) were somber and embarrassed as Americans that the Grand Pooh-bah of the country was such a criminal disgrace. Aunt Mary (such a character she was!) explained that a president of a country was like a Grand Pooh-bah since I (being a young and ignorant waif) had really no idea what a president was. President of a company I could understand, but finding out there was a Grand Pooh-bah of the country that held the same title was astonishing and puzzling. I was determined to puzzle it all out while kicking everyone's ass at skee ball the next day (I was the Grand Pooh-bah of skee ball as a youngster whooping everyone's butt... I once played for around three hours on a single quarter).
The biggest reason I probably so clearly remember the day was because while walking on the beach with Aunt Mary explaining what happened and what it all meant I was so engrossed I forgot to watch where I was walking and stepped on a soda can tab nearly slicing my big toe off which horrified me not only because of the blood (and there was buckets of it) but because of what it might mean to my future non-existent ballet career. Aunt Mary got a lifeguard to clean it out and put on a huge bandaid, and later that night just to make me feel better she drew smiley faces on it with a sharpie. I even remember thinking as I admired my unique bandaid that it would be so cool if some company made bandaids with pictures on them like smiley faces. Decades later I was miffed to discover that some company eventually did and was reaping a fortune off of my childhood idea.
For those to young to recall, soda can tabs used to come completely off creating an evil sharp foot cutter to abundantly littler the ground absolutely everywhere. They looked like this...
You could make cool chain jewelry and other stuff with them though like this (ok, back then we thought it was cool... though back then it wasn't called "cool" but "boss" ...
So, yeah, that's my Nixon story.
I actually haven't played skee ball since I was far enough into my teens to notice boys and therefore spent beach time away from the game. I probably suck at it now.
And for those that don't know what skee ball is...