It used to be that an experience was something—like a vacation—which you enjoyed (or not) in your own physical body, in a particular physical space at a particular time. You might re-experience it later by looking at pictures or by sharing stories about it with others. But your sensibility about an experience, particularly if it was dramatic or memorable and you were attempting to convey what it felt like to others, might be summed up by saying, “You had to be there.”
