An end of something grand

Besides sun, warmth, sand and Disney World, one of the greatest things about living in Florida is the chance to see the space shuttle orbiting toward space.  Before I moved here I had visited the Kennedy Space Center three times.  I had taken the tourist bus, back when they did that sort of thing, out to the launchpad and had seen a space shuttle on the pad.  My mother is a big space nut, and she always had us watching the shuttle leave the earth.  So when I moved to Florida it was a joy to be able to be even closer to something I grew up with, but only viewed from afar.

It was long before I learned to turn on the TV for the launch and then run outside so that I could see the shuttle as it passed over our area on its way into space.  It wasn't always visible, and I wasn't always looking in the right direction (being a little challenged in that area), but I've seen the shuttle plenty of times as it passed over my neighborhood.  I soon was one of those Floridians who was nonchalant when the boom hit and tourists scattered, their mouths in "o" formations, some of them thinking an earthquake was happening as items on shelves teetered.  "Oh, that," I would say.  "That's the space shuttle coming home."

In June 2002 we were in Disney World for one of Tom's conventions.  It happened to be when the Endeavor was launching.  I was in my hotel room with the girls, and Tom called to tell us it was about to happen.  We went outside on our balcony.  Everyone was outside, but the people in my area all happened to be from foreign countries.  I think the room next to us was from France, and several along the balcony were Canadian.  I had the TV on in my room, the door propped open, and I kept going back and forth, back and forth, as the countdown began.  I had seen the shuttle from my own house, a small, alien thing flying toward space, and so I didn't really expect anything different, despite my closer proximity.  I was wrong.

We stood outside and listened to the launch.  Somewhere America the Beautiful  was playing in the background, and then, suddenly there she was; Endeavor, so close that I could read all the wording on its side.  I saw United States, Endeavor, and all the flags that decorated it.  It was so close that I felt like I could reach out and touch it.  I could see it and the rockets.  It rolled, and we watched as it went higher and higher and higher into the sky.  Everyone was breathless as it roared past and the sound was amazingly loud.  It disappeared into the clouds and everyone began talking at once, in another language.  I stood on the balcony, tears streaming down my cheeks, and the woman next to me said in English, "That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen.  That was extraordinary.  You must be so proud."  And I said, "I am very proud to be an American at this moment."

Today I watched Atlantis blast into the skies, the end of the space shuttle program.  I should have driven over there.  I never did, in all the years I lived in Florida, and of course, now I'm regretting it.  We always think things will last longer than they do.  I made my kids watched.  I reminded my mother it was happening.  Unfortunately, on our side of the coast it was pouring down rain, and the sky was full of clouds so that seeing it pass over my driveway was not in the cards.  I watched it instead standing in front of the TV with tears streaming down my cheeks. 

And once again I felt so blessed and so proud to be an American.  Be safe on your journey Atlantis.  Come home safe.