Life Changing Memories

The heat continues.  Not quite as hot and humid as days prior but still in the high 80's - soon to drift down to the low 80's.  But still, anything over 80 is fine with me.






Last night I was watching a television show about the last shuttle launch and it brought to mind all the launches we were fortunate enough to observe while living in Florida.  We lived about 40 miles from the Space Center and if we looked in the right direction we would be able to see a fireball hurtling through the sky leaving a trail of smoke behind it.  However, I was never able to hear the sonic boom of re-entry for some reason. Probably because most launches caught me off guard - we didn't pay much attention to when they were scheduled to take off or land. (a couple of nights we saw a fireball streaming through the sky while driving down a road and knew it had to be a shuttle launch).  There was one exception to this, though.  I will always remember a beautiful morning on January 16th, 2003. I was working at a Day Care Center and we brought all the children outside to watch the launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia.  Across the street was an elementary school (where C.J. and Jon went) and they had all the students out to watch it as well.  What an amazing view we had as the day was as bright and beautiful as they get with not a single cloud to impede our view.  Little did we know, as we watched the vehicle ascend further into the sky, that it would never return!  I will have that vivid memory with me for the rest of my life.


Coincidently, the Saturday it was to return I had just   turned on the T.V. a few minutes before nine o'clock and the station I had on was showing footage from Houston as they directed the return of Columbia.  For some reason, I decided to watch - still not sure why because it certainly wasn't something that would normally interest me.  It was not long after turning it on - maybe just a couple minutes- that things started going wrong.  And I remember sitting there, staring at the T.V. while they tried desperately to re-establish communication, and thinking "no,no,no, it can't be."  I then woke up my sister and together we watched the rest of the story unfold.


I am not really sure why I am even writing this except to say that you never know what seemingly unimportant events in your life will turn out to be imbedded in your permanent memory.  Making a memory that at the time may seem to mean nothing...but ends up meaning oh so much.