You Had to Be There

It is human to want to share an experience with others by telling them about how it was, but try as we might, it doesn't come across. It is difficult to find the words to express the thrill of the event--the feel of it--and all the listener can do is appreciate what the teller is trying to say. The story frequently ends with "I guess you just had to be there..."

Part of the problem is that words don't work when trying to describe feelings. The younger generation has devalued some words like "awesome" and "amazing" by using them as superlatives for things that are relatively un-awesome or un-amazing. Another part of the problem, of course, is that we are trying to tell our stories to people who lack the experience itself and/or don't have the same feelings that WE have under the same circumstances. How am I supposed to explain why I get goosebumps and tears over a live performance of the National Anthem??? You just have to be there.

I was at a meeting at church last week during which the committee was discussing how we could bring the church experience to folks who are now "shut in". Our pastor's sermons are put on the Internet each week, but I can attest to the fact that simply hearing the message is NOT the same as being in the sanctuary during the worship experience. All things work together, and being there is a huge part of it.

You can watch the Indianapolis 500 on television faithfully every year, but until you have actually been at the Speedway (in good seats) and experienced the whole morning, first-hand, you have no idea about the thrill of the traditions. There was the year that the crowd in my section was cheering wildly as the cars came around--not for the lead car, but for the hapless squirrel that was trying to make his way across the track. (He made it that time, but failed on another.) Then there was the time that Gordon Johncock's car ran out of gas right in front of us on the beginning of what would have been his winning last lap. Or the time that the crowd, waiting for the track to be dry enough to start the race, started a "wave" in the stands. (Then-track-announcer Tom Carnegie announced that it was the first ever one-lap wave!) There was the time that I was watching Rick Mears in the pit, then could see smoke as he jumped out of his car and started slapping at himself, on fire from a fuel spill. The bright colors; the announcement to start the engines and watching the crew members scramble off the track while the cars start to move, scuffing their tires with zig-zag moves; the balloons going up at the end of Jim Nabor's rendition of Back Home Again in Indiana; the invocation at the end of which, the priest would pronounce "Go with God" in the languages of the countries represented by the drivers; the jet Missing Man flyover; the playing of TAPS in honor of Memorial Day. Oh, the glory of it all! (I'm crying as I write this. Why???) You have to be there to understand.

Other experiences that defy description:

* The Blue Angels C-130 jet assisted take off. Saw that once. Here is a whale of a plane that doesn't look like it could possibly even get off the ground. It starts off slowly on a short runway, then the jets fire and that sucker makes a big noise and heads straight up at a 45-degree angle with a whoosh that takes your breath away. My jaw dropped wide open in disbelief! I got big goosebumps over that deal.

*Seeing the B-2 Stealth Bomber fly overhead. Now, THAT doesn't happen every day! I was in Megan and Nathan's back yard in Muncie, IN, a few years ago when I heard a LOUD engine overhead. There was an air show in town. I looked up in time to see the B-2 Stealth Bomber, looking very much like a black stingray, flying over the yard. I yelled for Nathan (and the whole neighborhood, I fear), "The bomber! The bomber! Hurry!" Little Ryan was just a toddler and came through the door but was so started by the tremendous roar that he took a step backward into his father who swooped him up to come out to see the tail end of the plane as it flew out of sight. Wow!

*A space shuttle launch. Here is one that I have never seen up close and personal, but I experienced a movie of one at the IMAX theater at Kennedy Space Center once, and I got such a thrill from that. I can only imagine what it would feel like to be there. The Endeavor was launched this morning. I'm sorry--a televised launch simply can't do justice to the real thing, I'm sure. Wish I could have seen that in person.

*Drag races. A television spectator can't comprehend the noise volume or smells at those events. Mere foam earplugs will not protect the ears. The only time I ever went to the drag races in Indy, I wore noise-canceling headphones that my sister and bro-in-law supplied, but that wouldn't cancel the concusson of those roaring engines from hitting me in the chest! Each time a dragster or funny car headed down the track, all of the alarms of the cars parked in the parking lot were set off. And I swear it took several days to get the smell of nitro fuel out of my nose!

*A live performance of The Hallelujah Chorus. I know it inside out and backwards, having sung it many times in high school. Actually, ANY live performance of musicians singing and playing their hearts out will thrill me--like the one that took place at my church last night. It was a free concert, put on by our very gifted Director of Music and a cast of thousands. (Okay...not thousands. Just dozens.) Broadway show tunes! My favorites! I don't expect other people to get the same excitement out of those sorts of things because they do not share my love of performing and musical theater. I've given up trying to share those events except with people whom I know will get it...

I'm even running out of words to describe the descriptions of these events. Trust me: you just have to be there!