Journal For My Kids #1

Dear Kids,

We’re in the middle of a pandemic, when things are starting to reopen and Dad and I are keeping an eye on the numbers to see how they’ll change, especially after Memorial Day weekend and far too many gathering like they shouldn’t have. But today is also an historic one.

Today, SpaceX and NASA are about to launch two American astronauts from Florida. Maybe by the time you two read this, it’ll be commonplace. Maybe today will start the next part into space travel and exploration. Maybe you’ll read this one day, before you or someone you know is about to travel into space. Maybe this will be almost meaningless because people are sent into space every day.

But today is the first time in almost a decade that American astronauts are being launched into space from American soil to the International Space Station. On a privately owned space craft.

Right now, as I write this, the astronauts, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken are ready and waiting in the capsule after having been in quarantine. It was sad to see the men and their families giving pretend hugs from afar as they’re scheduled to be at the ISS for a few months (coronavirus, remember). It’s a little less than a half hour to the scheduled launch time. But the weather is not beautiful in Florida. There’s a tropical storm and, earlier at least, there was a tornado warning in the area. This could be cancelled at any minute. But it’s still very exciting. If not today, that it’ll probably be sometime over the weekend.

Right now, Sister is napping and Brother is in quiet time. I asked him if he wanted to stay out with me, but he’s very attached to his quiet time. I’m sad you’re both missing the launch, but maybe you’re not quite as interested in this as Mom and Dad (who is watching at work). Maybe one day you will be, and then you’ll have this to read. Our lives have settled into a really good routine since we’ve been ordered to stay at home in mid-March, and the two of you not being with me at this very minute is part of it. I’m glad, partly, because it gives me time to write this. At the same time, I really wanted to share it with you.

Twenty minutes now. We’ll see if this thing launches. It’s scheduled for 1:33 pm PST. The rocket fuel is being loaded. It’s getting ready. But they’re still keeping a close watch on the weather. I see on the TV gray skies, but it doesn’t look like it’s raining.

Right now there are so many channels airing this event. I’m having a hard time deciding which to watch. But I guess the outcome will be the same. It’ll either go up, or it’ll be scrubbed. Remember that Curious George episode where Professor Wiseman kept saying they had to scrub the mission? Whenever they talk about this launch being potentially scrubbed, I just flashback to that. We watch a lot of PBS, and not just now because of the pandemic, but for the past 5 years.

Anyways, it’s a little over a quarter of an hour to launch and the weather is just too terrible, so it has been scrubbed. Cue Professor Wiseman wandering through my head. Unfortunately, no one can control the weather, and there is no monkey named George who can fix this.

But it’ll happen. Hopefully this weekend, when we’ll all be together and can watch as a family. Maybe it’s for the best. We can all witness the launch together. But I’ll still write another journal entry for you.

Love, Mom