Columbia

[PotatoeTater]

History is constantly being written by events of all magnitudes and categories. We see failures, abuses, success, feats of all kinds, and of course, tragedies. Today is best know for a specific tragedy (or at least for our modern time).

I find that we are all shaped by what we watch, and I remember today even though I was young. I was always interested in space and well, everything about it you could imagine. I had all kinds of NASA stuff and even today my favorite shirt is an official NASA one that an ex gave to me. I even grew up close to the Cosmosphere Space Center in Kansas and had set foot in every single space possible there. My parents did their best to support my fascination and back in 2003 they had done the best thing ever for me. I had watched some shuttle take offs, but never a reentry before. My parents had gotten me up and had setup the living room to look kind of like a space center with all kinds of toys and what not around. We had the tv on and was waiting to watch as Columbia finished it's mission and returned back to earth. Things don't always go as planned sadly, I remember the look on my parents face as it became apparent something had gone wrong, the news wasn't videos of a spaceship coming down all fancy like or spectacular, but instead was just a ball falling apart in the early morning sky. Of course at my age I couldn't understand what was going on, I had seem the 9-11 attacks happen as well but even 2 years later still hadn't fully understood what had happened. I could see the tears on my mothers face and my dad left the room, I remember asking my mom what was wrong and I will always remember what she said. She told me there was an accident and the spaceship wasn't coming back down like we were going to watch. When I asked her why, her explanation was perfect and has always been something I've remembered when times seem difficult. "Life is short and sometimes we lose those that we look up to. The important thing is to not stop believing in what they believed because they are gone."  It's too me a long time to fully grow and understand what she meant, or to even comprehend what had happened that day, but I do now and I always remember: Memories last a life time and even though people we loved, cherished, and even thought the world of are gone, they will still touch our lives forever.

[Barazen]

Thank you for sharing that tater, i actually kinda needed to read that.

I hope you continue to pursue your passions.

[Thyme]

Your moms explanation is indeed perfect. Thank you for sharing it.