Shuttle Launch....3.2.1

The launch of the shuttle "Discovery". Can I really blog about it? Can I really put it into words!? Answer. No. HOWEVER!? For you, my 3 readers...I'll try. (Photo....structure just left of what looks like a mountain...Discovery...and all her shuttle glory!) I'm 12 miles away...so gimme a break! :-)

Who? What? Why? Where? When? How? Is the best format I can come up with, lest I get all my wordy self and lose you!

WHO!?

ME! Yes, I went by myself, but what else was I supposed to do!? NOT go because I didn't have a crony to go with? NO! I mean, rarely do I have cronies to do things with, so, yes, I went with just me. That said? I did stay with some ROCKIN' peeps in St. Augustine! The Blacks were more than kind in opening there home, and SWEET Murphy bed to me! PLUS...hang time with Ella and Kate...whom I like very much, and I'm quite picky about my babies! I also was able to be a total tourist in St. Augustine, and while riding the trolley around town, I realized that I am a total tour nerd...and I'm okay with that. I also got to re-connect with a friend I went to high school with, and meet his wife, and his new baby! Now, that, in and of itself was cool, but cooler? My small world connection. His wife, and the Blacks were in the same pre-natal yoga! And then? His mom, teaches at the same day care that Ella goes to! CRAZY RIGHT!? So...I may have been alone for the launch, but that was all! (And by alone...I mean with hundreds of my closest friends....that picture is my walkway to my chair...right up front!)

What?
The shuttle launch. I've always wanted to see one....would secretly like to go up IN one...love the idea of space, it just seems cool. So, I figured "someday" I'd see one...well, the end to the space program was enough of a kick in the pants to GO see one! So, the "Discovery" launched into space...at 4:50pm and 27 seconds...on February 24, 2011

Why?
I wanted to. I could. I'd always wanted to. NASA gave me an ultimatum. I don't have a husband, or babies, so doing what I want, when I want, because I can? Is my green grass.

Where?
The ultimate question. I didn't know where was best, where had parking, where trees were in the way, where it would be too small....yaddey yaddey yada! SO, my friend Karl-Dad Scherm did a little recon (when I was down visiting, and finally meeting baby Petra, keeping my face in Lars and Stina's brain as favorite Aunt Carrie, AND bringing down the "Cars" cake pan for birthday number 3 in April!) And he came up confirming what I'd read about Titusville, FL. So, I watched the launch from "Spaceview Park"...12 miles away, so, my eyebrows weren't singed, and I didn't fall over from the noise, but I was moved to tears...true story. (A GIANT thank you to my friends that gave suggestions, sent pictures, and tidbits of how to make it great, how to avoid traffic, and to remember my SPF 50!! Mr. Westervelt, so great at sending me info and pictures....THANK YOU! )

When?
Well, I left the house in St. Augustine at like 7:30...I arrived in the 9:15 family...and honestly...any later? Who knows! I scored a great parking spot near the exit of the lot, easy out, and managed to squeak in a good sitting spot too. Any earlier...may not have mattered...as the first two rows...came the night before...chained their chairs down, and slept in their cars...so I couldn't have beat them! I had to be strategic about where I put my stuff...knowing that when push came to shove, I had to stake out a safe place where I wouldn't be pushed into oblivion and see nothing! So, I found a sweet spot, and? The lady next to me had an awning on her chair...so I hid from the sun in that! GLORIOUS SUN! I've been in SNOW, and COLD for too long. I THAWED! GLORIOUS! So...when push came to shove, I was all set with my tri-pod. 4:50pm 27 seconds.....lift-off.

How?
I flew into Jacksonville...sweet Apryl and her ROCKIN' mini scooped me up....which, she let me borrow to drive to the launch. HELLO! Launch AND a convertible mini!? BEST EVER!! Spoiled Rotten I am! Then I drove down in the morning, and drove home in the evening, somehow escaping the atrocious traffic that I've heard about. Ah. Maze. Ing!

Overview?
I've said BEST THING EVER...over and over again...but I mean it. You can't prepare for the COOL factor...in my opinion! It was overwhelming. I mean...I'm trying to film it, my camera on my tripod, but I couldn't zoom it out in time...and I'm trying to capture it with my big camera, but I also want to SEE it with my eyeballs, and FEEL it (40 seconds later when the sound hits us)....it was all so so overwhelming...and really..."out of this world", and then? In the end? I'm CRYING!!! I'm not a big cryer...but I couldn't help it. It's totally AWEsome...in the truest sense of the world. And seriously....it was an emotion I couldn't help. And this...I'm sure is to no scale of what it will be like in heaven....but I couldn't help but think about that too. I mean, when I was little, I was worried that I wouldn't fall to my knees, would I remember, would I be distracted, etc....and of course you'll fall to your knees to worship Him, and really, the shuttle was like this minute reminder that when things truly AWE you, you have no control...I'm grateful for that. I wish I could describe to you the glow of that fire, but there are no words for that...and it was launched, up, and GONE! Out of sight...only remaining was this cloud of smoke following it! And that, friends, is life. We are here for just a time, a "vapor" the bible says. I mean I was overwhelmed with 2 cameras, and trying to experience it, in the 2 minutes I got to see it...that, is our life, so it's what we do in those 2 minutes that matter. So...really...boiling down the shuttle launch...what am I doing with those 2 minutes...?