Thomas woke up the last two days saying, "We are going to see an astronaut today!" He was incredibly disappointed each time I had to inform him that it was not happening yet.
Today the twins, Aunt Peggy & I went to the Children's Museum. We had tickets to hear Astronaut Dr. David Wolf speak after his recent return from a 16 day mission on Endeavour (STS-127). He spoke so well to school kids, but even Thomas was on the edge of his seat the whole time. During some live narration of an astronaut training video, Thomas leaned over to me and said, "I LOVE astronauts!" Veronica informed me at some point during the talk, "There's another astronaut!" There was a guy in the front row wearing a blue jacket the same color as David's jumpsuit. Tonight Thomas went around the yard looking for his space shuttle.
At the end of the talk, a kid asked Dr. Wolf, "With some shuttles that have blown up, does that make riding in one scary?" Dr. Wolf replied that, yes, it was scary. While he was answering, I was thinking about how I had dreamed of being an astronaut. After we watched the Challenger explode live in 5th grade, classmates turned to me and asked if I still wanted to be an astronaut. I was sure that I still did. I thought of my internships with NASA and how that had lead me to have a personal conversation with Dr. Wolf 12 years ago - just before he spend months on MIR.
Dr. Wolf went on to say, "Anything that is important usually carries a risk. The risk is usually worth it." I felt the warmth of Veronica in my lap, her head on my chest; Thomas holding my hand and leaning on my arm. These living, breathing, risks who had me scared out of my mind for nine months before even meeting them, who fought neurosurgery and won. I thought of Julianne and David, my risks before them.
Two of my dreams interfaced at that moment. I couldn't agree with Dr. Wolf more.
Today the twins, Aunt Peggy & I went to the Children's Museum. We had tickets to hear Astronaut Dr. David Wolf speak after his recent return from a 16 day mission on Endeavour (STS-127). He spoke so well to school kids, but even Thomas was on the edge of his seat the whole time. During some live narration of an astronaut training video, Thomas leaned over to me and said, "I LOVE astronauts!" Veronica informed me at some point during the talk, "There's another astronaut!" There was a guy in the front row wearing a blue jacket the same color as David's jumpsuit. Tonight Thomas went around the yard looking for his space shuttle.
At the end of the talk, a kid asked Dr. Wolf, "With some shuttles that have blown up, does that make riding in one scary?" Dr. Wolf replied that, yes, it was scary. While he was answering, I was thinking about how I had dreamed of being an astronaut. After we watched the Challenger explode live in 5th grade, classmates turned to me and asked if I still wanted to be an astronaut. I was sure that I still did. I thought of my internships with NASA and how that had lead me to have a personal conversation with Dr. Wolf 12 years ago - just before he spend months on MIR.
Dr. Wolf went on to say, "Anything that is important usually carries a risk. The risk is usually worth it." I felt the warmth of Veronica in my lap, her head on my chest; Thomas holding my hand and leaning on my arm. These living, breathing, risks who had me scared out of my mind for nine months before even meeting them, who fought neurosurgery and won. I thought of Julianne and David, my risks before them.
Two of my dreams interfaced at that moment. I couldn't agree with Dr. Wolf more.
1 comment:
Beautiful post.
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