Where were you?

Written by Randall (Randy) Strand of Little Canada, who recently passed away. Submitted by his sister, Renetta (Strand) Engleson of Rapidan

I grew up on a farm in Southern Minnesota and was in my late teens when the United States was preparing to land the first men on the moon. One of my chores on the farm was to make sure the water tanks were full, so the cattle had something to drink. The tanks were large and took quite a while to fill. My practice was to turn on the water and come back in an hour or so to shut it off.

Like everyone else in the world, I was spellbound with the idea of a man stepping on the moon on July 20, 1969. On that day, I was sitting in front of our black and white TV watching the live broadcast and listening to Walter Cronkite narrate the unfolding drama. The landing had been successful, and Neil Armstrong was about to open the door and climb down to the surface. It was at that moment I remembered I had forgotten to turn the water off. I knew the tanks had long since overflowed. My dad hated when that happened, as it needlessly drained extra water from our well.

I was confronted with two choices. I could let the water run for a couple more minutes and watch history being made, or I could try and get out to the barn and back before the momentous event took place. Deciding it was best not to irate dad more than I had, I took off like a shot racing to turn off the water. That round trip could not take more than scant minutes. However, I returned to the TV just in time to hear Walter repeating the historic words uttered by Neil Armstrong on the surface of the moon. I had missed the most amazing event of my lifetime.

So when people ask me where I was when a man first stepped on the moon, I can answer with certainty that I was somewhere between the house and the barn running as fast as I could.