This Day In History

It's hard to believe that on this day 40 years ago, the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, died.   I remember the day well, not just because Elvis died, but because it was a day when I thought the 'Rents were going to have to take me to the hospital on the eve of our summer vacation to Florida. 

Mom was in the bathroom cleaning (she didn't want to leave a dirty house while we were gone) and she had the radio on.  I was also in the bathroom, sitting on the edge of the bathtub thinking I was having a wicked case of appendicitis.  My stomach had never hurt as bad as it did that afternoon. While sitting there in pain, the report came on the radio that Elvis had died.  I remember my Sweet Mother dropping a can of cleaner she had been holding, because she was so shocked. Not 30 seconds later, Gram yelled the news from the family room.  

It turns out it wasn't appendicitis, and our trip to Florida went on as scheduled.  Back then I had no sense of direction or geography, and I asked The Old Man if we could stop in Memphis on our way to Florida.  He said no, because that would be almost a day's drive out of our way.  But we did make a pitstop in Nashville on the way down.  I remember buying a newspaper at every gas station we stopped at on the way down to keep in my archives.  And yes, I still have those newspapers down in the basement.