...to the moon, Dad!

There are events in everyone's life...big events, where you remember where you are and or what you were doing when you learned about this event. For example, I was teaching elementary music, and learned about the Challenger explosion from the fourth graders coming into my class in tears at the change of classes. When the events of September 11, 2001, occurred, I was at work, and we were all numb. My mother was at my house, and I called my husband and based on her extreme reactions (understandably!), I asked him to turn the channel or do anything to protect Mom from the horrible visions on the television screen. Since it was pretty much on every channel, he put in a video. He took good care of Mom that day. The thing I remember about that day the most is that everyone called everyone else to make sure they were okay. I called the nursing home to check on Dad. I called my brother. I called other relatives. The need to reach out was urgent and palpable. I know some family members were in the area of the NYC events (along with some friends), and we worried and prayed until we knew they were all safe. 

When I was a grade-schooler, I began my journey as a space geek. My parents subscribed to a kid's science journal that was all about space and about the space program. We were all excited about the upcoming moon missions. The magazine folks even sent me a scale model of the lunar module to assemble. Dad, a retiree from the United States Air Force who had always wanted to be a pilot, shared my love of the sky, teaching us about the constellations on clear nights--we'd all be resting in the soft grass of our backyard while Dad taught my brothers, Mom, and me about the heavens. I think Dad would have loved to have been an astronaut, and was about the age of the first ones. 

So it was on this date in 1969, that we all sat in the living room as we watched the lunar module land on the moon, and then watched (at about this time of night) first Neil Armstrong and then Buzz Aldrin take their first steps on the lunar surface. We realized that we were witnessing something pretty extraordinary. Even now I think it was, especially when you consider the technology of the Apollo 11 mission was equal to a hand-held calculator now. Our smart phones are more powerful, yet we got several crafts and crews safely to the moon and back.

Years later, I would ask him if he wanted to go up in a shuttle, even after the Challenger accident. He said HELL YES! I agreed with him. 

And on the Thanksgiving after Mom and Dad had died, we went to Disney World...and I rode on Space Mountain, a ride Dad and I were in line for in 1979, but it had been shut down for some sort of problem just before we were able to ride. So, I was determined I would ride it someday.

And when I did, I cried and said, under my breath, "We did it, Dad."

We might not have reached the stars together, but it's pretty nice to know that my loved ones that have gone before are out among those stars. 

So at night, when the sky is clear, I always look up. And maybe someday, we'll get to the moon and beyond...or as Buzz Lightyear would say, "To infinity...and beyond!"