WHERE WERE YOU......

"Make my day"

"I'll be back."

"You're gonna need a bigger boat."

Famous lines from unforgettable movies. Well, except for that Arnold Swarzenegger line from The Terminator, I never cared much for that kind of movie, but it's popularity couldn't be denied. Arnold was pretty tough.

Where were you when Clint Eastwood, as Dirty Harry, uttered that famous line, so perfect for the scene? I loved it! "Go ahead, make my day...." in that dry, sarcastic voice that Eastwood is famous for. I just wanted to draw a gun and let that bad guy have it.

And who hasn't said, at least once in their lives........."I'll be back......." Oh, that Swarzenegger.....

As for the famous movie "JAWS" I remember exactly where I was when I heard that line for the first time. Jamie and I rarely missed a movie at the Souris Showhall when we were dating and for several years after we got married, until the babies started arriving, and no one was getting any sleep any more.

It debuted in 1975, the year I graduated from Souris High, so we were still going to every show that played. This was in the time long before Netflix, Hulu, Paramount and all that streaming. And Jaws was the block buster of the year, everyone was seeing it. And you wanna believe we were seeing it too.

Now, I grew up on the water, am a pretty good swimmer, and at the ripe old age of 18, I figured no movie about a fictitious shark would be enough to scare me. I wasn't missing it.

Wrong.

At a packed theatre, with more screaming surrounding us that we could stand, that fake shark in the bloody water on the screen was larger than life, and that infamous music (babum babum babum....) instilled a deep fear in me that has never left. From that night on, I never felt the same way about the water again. And I'm a far cry from 18. But ever since, I developed a deep seated fear of the water, dark water, and anything that might be in the water. There's even a word for it. "THALASSOPHOBIA," even the word sounds awful. It's a fear of dark water and whatever may be swimming in it. And you don't have to ask too many local fishermen for a shark story before you get an earful. It probably doesn't help that I live next to a seal colony here in Lower Rollo Bay, and they're a prime source of food for the Great Whites. And they just might mistake me for one, if I'm floating lazily along the shallows.............just the right size and shape, and lots of blubber.

Swimming from here to the flats and back? Not any more.

Taking the little boat across to Fortune? Not a friggin chance, did it, not doing it again. I was traumatized, and it was just a couple of years ago. The water under the boat was black as tar and for all intents and purposes it was teeming with whales and sharks. I'll never forget it, I bawled my eyes out when I got back to shore.

So do I remember where I was? You bet! I was at the Souris Showhall. "You're gonna need a bigger boat........" Well yes, that shark was a man eater. Usen's "Winchester" wouldn't have been big enough!!

Nobody loves movies more than I do, and I was so pleased to see movies playing on the big screen in Souris again! I'm a fan! Jamie and I will be attending, I've heard nothing but good things on the first show and the experience for the movie goers.

And it made me wonder if there are any other small towns on the Island that still have their theatres......it could be quite a draw for Souris and I hope it will be.

Back in the day, every couple had their favorite seats. Even now I could go blindfolded and sit right in the spot that was our favorite. Frankie and Lorraine always sat nearby, usually behind us, and a certain Cathy and her boyfriend were usually in front of us, although the Showhall always boasted a good crowd.

Those were the days.

What great memories.

What about those events in our society that change the way we think, or have a lasting effect on us? The movies are one thing, but what about real life events?

Like, where were you when you heard that John F. Kennedy was assassinated? Now there was a pivotal moment is U.S. history. I can remember it clearly, as it was in November, 1963, I was 6, and Momma was so distraught. She loved JFK, he was from Massachusetts, and she visited Boston every once in a while to see her daughters. She was wearing out that rotary phone that hung on the kitchen wall, frantic for details. Most people of a certain age can remember where they were when they heard that news, it shook the nation, and indeed, the world. I think a lot of hopes were pinned on his administration.

More recently, where were you when you heard the news event that we've coined "9-11?"

I remember it distinctly as I was at my fabric shop. The phone was ringing and it was Jaime Lee, in an agitated voice saying, "Mom, are you near the radio? Can you get to a TV?" Everyone was so worried about what this deliberate act of aggression could mean for world peace. I think we locked the shop doors and went home, everybody was so upset. Few details were available, but who could forget the images coming out of New York City of those air planes and the Twin Towers going down. The smoke and panic, how did they ever deal with it.

But deal with it they did, and as a great nation, they pulled together and made it through. And a couple of years later when Darrell and I went to New York City, as soon as we got off the plane and checked in to our hotel, the first place we visited was the footprints of the Towers, and we said a prayer and paid our respects. It was a hushed and magical place.

And what about that other special man in our lives........Santa Claus? Where were you when you heard, or more likely "overheard" "There's no such thing as Santa" What??!!?

I know where I was!

Hiding behind the kitchen door when a couple of large boxes were being delivered by a man driving a big white truck, with the letters "Sears" emblazoned across the side.

I was probably eight or so, I could certainly read, and when Momma caught a glimpse of of me, she tried to make a big deal out of the guy dropping off parcels for Freddie.

Sure he was.

I guess she knew she was hooped, she turned to me, with that ever-present cigarette in her hand and said, "Oh, you know there's no such thing as Santa. Don't tell the boys." So now, not only was I crushed at the confirmation that Santa wasn't real, I had to shut up about it.

Sure I was.

We were still in the one room school, no such thing as technologies, my friends were all a 30 minute walk away, and you want to believe we had the conversation. Turns out they all knew. But they were smarter than me, they pretended not to know. Innocents that they were.

But anytime I got to go to Souris, I would still turn my little face up to see the advertising in the windows of Santa and his tiny reindeer. The lights were bright and shining and it was quiet out on the sidewalk, I was just mesmerized. Christmas concerts came and went and I was just as happy as if I was wise. Momma kept us in Christmas candy, and I remember a miserable little tree in the front room corner with lots of those furry tinsel ropes that inspired such a magic feel. Somehow, nothing was lost in the knowing.

So, where were any of you at the time of some of these events?

And if you look closely at that shot of Santa, does it make anyone else think of John Dan Chaisson?......