Larry Gude
Strung Out
How about 'Gump' moments?
Were you at Woodstock? The Embassy in Saigon as the last choppers left? Actually chatted with a rich and/or famous person?
Mine was George Wallace and the day he almost died:
My dad had drug an 8 year old me and my 9 year old sister not to hear Wallace per se, (dad was and is a GOP'er) but to go to a civic event, a public political speech. Big deal in Laurel, 1972.
We were all the way in the back because (looking back on it and knowing dad so well) it was easier to get there late and leave early and left (of course!) right before the shooting. The cops were pouring into the shopping center as we were pulling out.
Being 8 and maybe 5' I couldn't see squat but I remember standing next to some long hair hippies who had signs and were protesting and heckling a bit and I thought they were cool, so I tried to mimic them. I don't remember dad minding a bit and being the last person in the world who would actually support a George Wallace I suspect that perhaps he was happy to at least think I was picking up on the fact that the hippies were not there in support of Wallace.
I'll have to ask about that one.
So, we raced home, turned on the tube and waited for the news. Turns out a family friend, a doctor, who was also there, was one of the two doctors that got to Wallace before the ambulance came.
Anyway, so much for my Gump moment.
How about yours?
Were you at Woodstock? The Embassy in Saigon as the last choppers left? Actually chatted with a rich and/or famous person?
Mine was George Wallace and the day he almost died:
My dad had drug an 8 year old me and my 9 year old sister not to hear Wallace per se, (dad was and is a GOP'er) but to go to a civic event, a public political speech. Big deal in Laurel, 1972.
We were all the way in the back because (looking back on it and knowing dad so well) it was easier to get there late and leave early and left (of course!) right before the shooting. The cops were pouring into the shopping center as we were pulling out.
Being 8 and maybe 5' I couldn't see squat but I remember standing next to some long hair hippies who had signs and were protesting and heckling a bit and I thought they were cool, so I tried to mimic them. I don't remember dad minding a bit and being the last person in the world who would actually support a George Wallace I suspect that perhaps he was happy to at least think I was picking up on the fact that the hippies were not there in support of Wallace.
I'll have to ask about that one.
So, we raced home, turned on the tube and waited for the news. Turns out a family friend, a doctor, who was also there, was one of the two doctors that got to Wallace before the ambulance came.
Anyway, so much for my Gump moment.
How about yours?
