"Not bad"

Well, I think that's what I heard as the shuttle came to a stop this morning. The television announcer, however, was talking (endlessly), so what I actually heard and who said it is unclear. But, the landing was better than not bad.

As I moved into the day following the homecoming of the Discovery, my mind has stayed focused on the shuttle program, remembering the first landing while I was in highschool, remembering where I was when the Challenger was destroyed at its launch, remembering that morning two and one-half years ago when the Columbia was lost as it reentered the earth's atmosphere. That first landing was mid-morning and my father had arranged for the Brookgreen crew to make a delivery to the house, so everyone could watch. When the news came about the Challenger, I was giving a slide show on historic Columbia to a garden club. February 1st I was leaving my brother's home in Richmond and my nephew came to the street to ask us to return to the house.

Funny, how I don't remember the routine launches and landings. Tal and I were surprised to learn this morning that today's landing was the 50th at Edwards Air Force Base and the 114th total. So, does that mean there have been 116 missions? 116 ...

I'm not kicking myself, just wondering. Not noticing the vast majority of the shuttle missions seems to me to be a bit like not noticing each and every automobile on the interstate. We're all focused on different things. But, how many of us have been in that interstate traffic and have found ourselves reduced to a crawl. It turns out to be an accident on the other side of the road and the slowdown is only because the drivers passing by had to take a moment to look at the accident. Is my remembering the nonroutine space shuttle missions that same sort of thing? Rubbernecking the accident on the other side of the interstate? I hope not.

Today's landing was better than not bad. They did make it look routine, though, didn't they? Maybe I could look at the routine of life a bit differently. At least from time to time. Maybe I could claim some of those routine moments in the same way I do those terribly or wonderfully memorable ones.