Today is December 8. Important for several reasons. It's the day after the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. it's Safe Harbour Day which many politicians are happy about. It's two days after Hiroshima and one day before Nagasaki. And it's that day John Lennon was killed outside on the steps of his apartment in NYC 40 years ago. For me, this last is particularly significant.
Forty years, one week, and one day earlier, I was walking past the exact spot where he was shot and killed. I was in the Army stationed in Delaware but had taken that weekend to go run the NYC Marathon. I was teaching at the University of Delaware and one of my students has an older brother who worked in the city and lived in a small studio on the Upper West Side. I stayed with him that weekend.
I had finished the marathon the Sunday and was walking back to take a shower and pack to return home. I had an Amtrak ticket for that afternoon. As I crossed a parallel street I noticed the Dakota, the famous apartment building that Lennon and other celebrities lived at. I thought of Lennon being there maybe at that exact time.
I remember walking - actually limping - past with one of those light foil-like blankets wrapped around me.
I still have that blanket.
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