24 years ago today---maybe it seems like no big deal now, but back then? The earth moved.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

59. I can't even begin to imagine what that was like

Thanks for sharing that, DFW. You and your wife were truly fortunate to have being first-hand witnesses to such a momentous time in history.

Unfortunately -and to my regret -I have no memories of the fall of the Berlin Wall (by that, I mean the news coverage -I was living in Southeast Asia, which was nowhere near the Berlin Wall, at the time). My political awakening and my obsessive passion for history and politics was only just beginning (I was eight at the time of the events you describe) and had not yet developed to the extent that I took an active interest in news and current affairs. But, even in my blissful state of ignorance, I knew enough to take for granted that there were some things in the world that were as they were and would never change. There was an East Germany and a West Germany, there was the Soviet Union and the United States, Nelson Mandela was a political prisoner and had languished in jail at the hands of a racist regime for years on end, there were western hostages in Lebanon who were being held indefinitely and the list goes on.

And then suddenly there wasn't. Every preconceived notion I had of the world and the way things were just seemed to fall away over the space of two years. The reunification of Germany, the collapse of communism, the release of Mandela, the release of the western hostages in Lebanon and the list goes on. Suddenly everything seemed to be changing for the better and there was an unbelievable environment of hope, idealism and optimism about the future. It was impossible not to get caught up in it. Around about the time that Mandela was released, I began to watch the news and follow current events much more closely and I watched the world transform before my eyes as it happened. It was absolutely surreal and I doubt I'll ever see anything like it again.

While I don't remember the fall of the Berlin Wall, I do remember watching the news on the night that Germany officially became one nation again. Again, I have no words to describe what it felt like watching all that happen than that it felt absolutely surreal. Big things and big changes were happening

In 2011, I visited the Berlin and saw what was left of the Berlin Wall. It was amazing to me that I could stand in different areas and be in either what was once East Germany or in West Germany . I saw all the art on the remaining parts of the wall -Brezhnev kissing Honnecker and the like. Absolutely amazing

Again, thanks for sharing your experiences with this, DFW and it was great you got to witness history in the making. That's not going to be something you'll forget in your lifetime