“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” -Eleanor Roosevelt ![]() Space has been a joy of my heart for as far back as I can remember. With each launch of the shuttle, I felt awe at the amazing journey that is space flight. The invention of Twitter for Scott Kelly’s year on the International Space Station brought the joy I felt as a child back to life as we learned each day what he was up to and he shared the amazing images of our planet on his orbits around the Earth. So it should be no surprise, that today, my dreams came to life when we visited Kennedy Space Center.
Now, I knew I was excited to go, but truly I knew it was a big day when my niece said she was seeing Aunt Jess as her 6 year old self--I was excited beyond measure and each turn brought new adventures. I had a grin ear to ear--and later---Luke told me that it was the happiest he had seen me since the birth of our children. So, here are the moments I want to capture to keep this adventure alive for all time! Space Ice Cream is always a novelty Each day on vacation, I create challenges for my kids so that they engage with wherever we are visiting in a deeper way. Today was no exception. Today each of the kids had to take photographs of each of the major space missions from NASA in order to earn Astronaut Ice Cream. At the end of our visit, I made good on their challenge and watched with amazement as they focused for 10 minutes on the “perfect” one to pick. I remember doing the same as a child each time we visited the air force academy. It is amazing. Tears of Joy escaped my face. One of our first experiences on the cape was to go on the bus tour out to the launch pads and past the shuttle maintenance facility. As we turned the first corner, the iconic view approaching the launch pad become real in the window and unexpectedly tears rolled down my face. At that moment, I realized that I had a life long dream coming true. The scale of the shuttle is more than I could comprehend. As soon as we passed the shuttle maintenance facility, I began to truly comprehend just how big the space shuttle had been. The tallest hanger on earth, the building soared sky high and made you realize the scale of man’s accomplishment to launch this ship. Right behind the building, we came upon the crawlers that transport the spacecraft and the sheer size blows your mind. Technology changes at a breakneck speed. We were able to see the next Space X mission ready to take off on the launch pad. We are missing the launch by a couple of days, but it was cool to see the newest ship in our fleet ready to take off. Space X, Boeing, and NASA are all working at a breakneck speed to ensure that humans can go to Mars in this century and what we know about what will and will not get us there changes daily. It is truly amazing! Believing in great challenges brings them to life. Our next stop was to see the GIGANTIC Saturn V rocket that was used to send humankind to the moon in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Although I had previously seen the ship in Texas and Alabama, it was a whole new experience to take Luke on this tour. His engineer brain sees the world in a unique way and his explanations of the details and what they accomplished left me in admiration of a beauty previously unseen. The kids all touched a moon rock (which they were pretty unimpressed by) and we enjoyed lunch amid the history of this great big accomplishment. II can be speechless For anyone who knows me, they know that this is a first. As we drove back from the shuttle tour, I realized that i just didn’t have words to express the joy that was coming from this visit. Julie finally asked what was going on and I had to say I was speechless. Who knew it was possible? I got to see the space shuttle (3 feet in front of my face!) The highlight of this trip for me was truly seeing the space shuttle up close and personal for the first time. I had seen one at a distance last time I was in Houston, but this was an entirely new experience. I was shocked at the size (one again) of the shuttle and yet was surprised at the same time how small the crew cabin truly was. The heat tiles were and amazing piece of engineering and the rocket engines were on much grander scale than I had anticipated. Each dent or mark on the shuttle made me wonder about what had happened and the stories this bird could tell were hidden in each one. The kids lost interest in the shuttle way before I did, but I could have cared less. It was real and it was right there in front of me! What could be better? I could have stayed for several more hours, but we had hit the kids limit of sightseeing for the day. As we departed, we got to see the iconic launch countdown clock and I realized that I can’t wait to countdown my next visit. Luke has promised that we can go back and see an actual launch and spend more time geeking out of the historic rockets that we skimmed over today. I can’t wait!
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They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs; You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy. -Psalm 65:8 Sunset. Every 24 hours (give or take a few minutes) the sun sets on another day. Most days, I am rushing about trying to grade papers, cook dinner, or finish housework at this time of day. As winter comes, the sun sets earlier and earlier and I am left feeling though I end each day with more and more left undone on the ever ending to do list of a working mom. Thus, I put "watch a sunset" on my life list to make myself stop and appreciate this daily occurrence at least once with the awe and wonder of a child. Tonight ended up being that night and it was simply amazing. We jumped on an airplane at 1:30 this afternoon to head to Florida for a much needed family vacation. I knew that we were supposed to land in Tampa at 6:30, but it had not occurred to me that it would be dark when we landed. This created a unique opportunity to watch the sky change as our play flew into the darkness as the sun set on another day. My photos can tell the story much more beautifully than I can. It was an awe inspiring way to see the sunset and left me feeling a sense of pure bliss. I can't wait to watch another sunset soon! God leaves his beauty everywhere if we only look for it.
“Losing yourself does not happen all at once. Losing yourself happens one no at a time.” -Shondra Rhimes, Year of Yes:How to Dance it out, Stand in the Sun and Be your own Person Last year, I read Shonda Rhime's brilliant book Year of Yes:How to Dance it out, Stand in the Sun and Be your own Person. She realized that she was losing out on a lot of living (and herself) by saying no all the time. So she pushed herself to say yes for a year. Although, not ready to take that challenge on fully, I did consciously decide that as I work on my life list, I would say yest to new experiences as much as possible. Well, today a chance to say yes and have a new experience walked in my door.
At the beginning of class, a student walked in and offered me a cookie. I decided to say sure. It's Friday and chocolate sounded like a need rather than a want. When the aluminum foil peeled off the plate, he asked again if I wanted a cookie. Looking at the plate, I suddenly realized that the joke was on me--the cookies had a little bonus in addition to the much desired chocolate--crickets had been added. Now, a couple of weeks ago, I would have been quick to say "No thank you" and laugh politely. Great joke. But today, instead of going to my instant no, I said, "why not?" I grabbed a cookie, took a bite, and thoroughly grossed out the teen girl in front of me. How was it? The taste was pretty meh. It was really like having a nut in a cookie. No big deal. In terms of experiencing life, it was amazing! It was the first time in a long while that I felt like I was living in the moment rather than living in the life of "should do". It was freeing (and fun to watch my teammate freak out when I said I'd eaten the cookie. It wasn't an experience I had planned on having on my list, but I am so grateful, I took the chance and said yes. I found a small piece of myself (being adventurous) with this one little word and that is the life I want to experience. "Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th." -Julie Andrews
So, after a week, I have made my bed more days than not, but have yet to be successful at going 7 days straight. I have learned that I do sleep a LOT better on the nights I have a made bed--I don't toss and turn nearly as much and there is nearly no fighting with the blankets. I am going to keep working on getting to seven continuous days--the benefits are worth it! What is getting in my way of this? Right now, I would say getting up too late to take the extra time. Most days the alarm goes off at 6:30, Luke gets up and I stay in bed until it is shower time. I think my next steps are to get up instead and make the bed. Stay tuned--there is something to this adventure! "If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed,'' -U.S. Navy Adm. William H. McCraven Ahhhhhhh....the joy of a freshly made bed. Every time I walk into a hotel room (for work or for pleasure), there is something magnificent about crawling into the bed made with crisp, white sheets that have been perfectly fresh. Instant luxury envelops you as you break the smooth sheets apart to snuggle in to a comfy night. It makes my heart happy and feels like a vacation from an ordinary life. Yet, anyone who knows me, will tell you that I never, ever make the bed. But why? I don't have a good answer. Laziness, sleeping five more minutes, and the all time consuming task of getting my teenager out the door leave me rushing out the door while the bed looks like a rumpled pile of discarded rubbish. So, my first adventure is to make the bed every day for a week (or two) to see if I can break this habit! But why? Several years ago, I saw this speech by U.S. Navy Adm. William H. McCraven in which he made the case to college grads that making the bed each day would start your day with success and remind you that the little things matter. So today is day 1--I took the extra few minutes and made the bed. Was it life changing? Not really, but I am sure excited to crawl into night and enjoy the feel of a made bed as I end a busy busy day. I did have a small sense of pride as I walked out the door--and I was ready to hit a Monday running. There may be something to this idea. We will see how it goes!
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AuthorAlmost 40 and tired of the treadmill, I am going to LIVE each day as a new adventure while finishing todo items on my life list. Mom, wife, teacher, geek! Archives
May 2020
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