Life Is Still A Tire Swing

It only took a few moments, and a margarita, for 30 years to melt away.
And we we all girls again, older and wiser, more stories to tell than there was time for, but still young at heart.

Within minutes we were re-capturing cherished memories from our youth and trying to share great lessons learned in the years since. 
An impossible task to accomplish in just a few hours. Yet somehow we walked away satisfied.

It is a surreal experience to share a moment in time with good friends ~ a lifetime apart yet dear to your heart.
These are some of the people who made me. I could not have the trust and faith in humanity I have now if I had not had some of these friends then.

I feel blessed to hear of their children, their parents, their heartaches, their losses. Their lives, so similar and so different from my own. I wanted to jump into the photographs and be a part of the moments... to dance at the wedding, to sit at the dinner, to be at graduation. Yet through the stories and smiles, I saw the joy in those moments and shared in a way that only girlfriends can do.

It's been a long and winding road, and I have faith that life will lead us back to each other, but until until it does, I hope this evening was able to wash away the years for my friends as it did for me.

Goodbye Mr Spaceman

I was one of the half a billion earthlings (1 of 6 people on the planet at the time) huddled in front of a grainy television set with my family on a cloudless night in July 1969 to see the "moon landing".  My father insisted; I was 8 years old and it changed my life.  I believe this singular moment in time is one of the greatest accomplishments in human history.

Historic Apollo 11 Moon Landing Footage

 

Seeing Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set their feet on another heavenly body and playfully bound around was awe inspiring in this young girls eyes.

The sign on my teachers wall read "Hitch Your Wagon to a Star" and from my perspective the moon landing was proof that man could touch the Heavens.

It never occurred to me that if I worked hard, there wasn't anything I couldn't accomplish if I set my sights on it. One small step at a time, I would get there. I grew up with the space program as my inspiration. Yes, there were failures and setbacks, but they didn't back down from the President's challenge.

And that night when Dad and I walked outside and gazed upon the moon knowing that there were humans standing there, we understood that there is no amount of effort too daunting or overwhelming in our own life if the great expanse of space could be conquered to safely put men on the moon.

I've traveled a lot of miles since then, and accomplished a lot of goals. I still look to the stars for inspiration and marvel in the magnitude of it all. While it was my parents that gave me the tools I needed to travel life's road, I would like to thank Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin for challenging me to aim for the stars.

Ever since that night, the moon doesn't look so far away.