It was a summer Saturday night, ten years ago. It was my first end of August not attending school since the 1980s. I had graduated high school and was expecting to go to in a couple of weeks. My mother and sisters were in Pooler at a pageant. My dad, brother, and I stayed home. My dad was in our den watching TV. I was in my bedroom trying to surf the Internet on my computer. It was a 386, the screen only supported 256 colors, and it took forever to load a webpage. However, that crappy little computer changed my world. But enough about that computer.

It was while I was on that computer that my dad came barging into my room to announce the news. Princess Diana was in a car accident and her boyfriend was dead. She had a broken arm. I got off the computer and joined my father in the den. The sun went down as the news came in. She had this wrong. She had that wrong. It was a broken arm. No, it's a concussion. The news changes constantly. Cell phones weren't as cheap as they are now. We didn't have one, so we couldn't call my mother to tell her.

It was between 9 and 11 that night that my mother and sisters came home. They had a bad day at the pageant. My mother just wanted to vent. She had no access to the current news. However, when she came into the dark den, we told her what we knew of the accident at the time. My mom stopped her venting. She sat with me on the couch. She had news to catch up on.

The next thing I remember is they came on TV and announced the sad news. My mother and I were hugging each other. Princess Diana was dead. My mother started wailing about it. "No! No! No! I got up at 3 in the morning to see her wedding! She can't be dead!" Those weren't my mother's exact words, but I'm sure said them at one point. The whole house was in disbelief over the news. We had a hard time that night going to bed.

The next week was a blur. I ended up going to Florida to visit a friend of my mother's as a graduation gift. I didn't have time to keep up with all the Diana news. I kept up with it via my phone calls with my mother and occasional viewing of the news when I could. A week after Diana's death, I came home from Florida. It was a trip I really needed. However, I remember catching part of Diana's funeral on TV before I left. I also got the news that Mother Teresa had died as well. My trip home was numbing, to say the least.

This memory is nothing. This memory is everything. This memory made an impact on me. I still can't believe Diana is gone. She was always there, and then POOF! She was gone.

Sadly, this story more about me missing my mother. I miss that night and other nights of sitting on the couch watching TV. She was there, and now she's gone.

[♪ Listening to: "Seasons Change" - Exposé]

Posted by Shawn at August 30, 2007 11:02 PM in Memories.