Discovery

Thursday 24 February 2011
When I was young I wanted to be an astronaut. Life didn't take me in that direction. I didn't want it bad enough to choose to study and do the things that would help me qualify for that job. But it was serious enough that I had friends roll me around inside large tires and other assorted things to get used to being tumbled around. I watched on television with awe. I know exactly where I was at the first moon landing. I remember things like the Apollo 11 fire, the Challenger explosion, and the breakup of a shuttle on re-entry over Texas.

Today, for the first time I personally witnessed a NASA rocket lift off and fly into the sky—the shuttle Discovery headed for the International Space Station. I was way too far away to be sure people were aboard, but I believe they were. I can personally testify that I saw something go up and it looked an awful lot like the smoke trail of a rocket to me. We stood in the parking lot at Cirque du Soleil in Orlando, Florida, and faced east at nearly 5:00 p.m. and waited. Then for a few seconds we saw the smoke trail curving into the sky from the Kennedy Space Center between puffs of clouds. BJ took this picture for me.

An hour later BJ and I got to see the Cirque du Soleil. This is pretty expensive, but wow, it was by far the best circus I've ever seen. Every act—the clowns, florescent jump rope, trick bicyclists, tight wire walkers and bike riders, trapeze artists, juggler, little Chinese yoyo flippers, trampoline jumpers, and silk flyers—went way beyond any circus I've ever seen. They were all outstanding, but for some reason the juggler was the most astonishing to me. He never made a mistake and while juggling about eight disks, bowling pins, or balls could bounce on his head a ball or balance a pole on his head and juggle the balls into tiny cups on the pole.