The Good Old Days

When Steve and I were dating, the movie Apollo 13 came out in theaters. We were just blown away by that movie because all of those events happened just a few weeks before my husband was born and honestly, we had never even heard of all that went on. After the movie, we asked our parents if they remembered Apollo 13. Steve's mother didn't really. She was, after all, 9 months pregnant at the time. But my dad absolutely did. He remembered listening on the radio at work to see what would happen.

My dad always did like the space program. He always woke us up early to watch Space Shuttle launches on TV. I didn't really get what the big deal was, but I watched with him. I was born into a world where man had already walked on the moon, but my dad still saw it all with awe. After watching the movie about the near-tragic Apollo flight, I was confused. I knew there had been something called Project Mercury. I knew there had been smaller space vehicles that only held one or two men. And then there was Apollo. Which came first? I had no idea. But I was curious.

Actually, I was more than curious. And I had a lot of time on my hands in the summers back then. I was a teacher and we had no children yet. So I would happily spend hours sitting in the floor of "the stacks" in our local library, poring over old Life Magazine issues that featured the early astronauts and their families. I read biographies. I absorbed it all. I taught myself the order and significance of each step of the early space program. I still just love every bit of it. It's a part of history that just fascinates me.

It's easy to see those wonderful old pictures of the early astronauts and their families and wish our family was just like that. Because it all looks just wonderful in retrospect.

Hindsight is a funny thing. I remember well one summer that we had done nothing very special. No vacation, no big anything. I was feeling a little guilty about the unspectacular summer break my daughters had lived through. Then I grabbed every picture I could find from the summer and made a slide show. Set to music, our summer of pictures looked really awesome!

The truth is, our life right now is not perfect. We have problems. We have stress. We've had some big expenses lately. We struggle. We're too busy.

But give me some photographers to follow us around, and I bet we could present a perfect, smiling facade for the world!

Our 3 girls. Easter 2018.

Would that help anyone?

Hmm.....

Nah. I think the world will just have to settle for me sharing all about some of our triumphs and hardships, while still enjoying the blessings we have been given.

One day, people might look back on our family pictures and think how easy it must have been back in the good old days.

But you and I will know the truth.

Especially if you keep reading this blog!

Signing off,