The year was 1969. I was eleven years old and in love with the space program. What a summer that was. Like everyone else, my grandpa and I watched the first lunar landing with heightened wonder and excitement. I’m thankful to have been a kid when the exploration of space still evoked that adventurous spirit inside of us. That moon landing brought to life, for the first time, the idea and feeling that anything was possible for me to achieve. From that day forward I was a different person. I truly believed I could do anything I wanted and I wanted to explore the skies like those men on the moon. As you grow older you sometimes forget how limitless your thoughts can be as a child.
After Apollo 11 returned to earth I begged my grandpa to build
a lunar module for the Pet Parade. He agreed to help me build it on one
condition - we use only materials he already had lying around in his garage. He
was a creative sort who liked a challenge. So, we built my eight foot high
lunar module replica – together. Working on that float is one of the strongest
memories I have of my grandpa. A person who took the time to show me the
possibilities.
Parade day that year was terribly hot and wearing my space
helmet, my brother’s ski suit, boots and gloves didn’t help any. Both of my
older brothers followed me from a distance along the parade route in case I
either passed out from heat exhaustion or the float took an unexpected
careening nose dive. That year I won the prize for ‘Most Patriotic Float’ -
$5.00. It was a good day.
At the age of 36, I’m finally trusting my heart to go ahead
and follow my dream of flight that began twenty-five years ago. Last month I
began working on getting my pilot’s license. The day I solo may not be as
historical an event as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landing on the moon, but
I will have become the explorer of the skies I had dreamed of as a young girl.
