to a nostalgic childhood moment

This weekend begun with the last mission of Atlantis. Atlantis began taking off into space back in 1985, when I was but a tiny toddler. As I heard the count down from the radio I had a flood of memories flash before me. Our teachers in my elementary school would takes us to the open field beside the playground to watch a shuttle's take off. As a kid it was always fun to go outside and watch an aircraft move further and further away into the atmosphere. It seemed so slow from my perspective as a child but it was most definitely soaring out at incredible speeds. As I thought of all those count downs when I was in elementary school I became teary eyed.

This all happened when I was driving back to South Florida from the Treasure coast, a beautiful calm area where I grew up, and pulled onto the shoulder of I-95 in an attempt to see the take off. From the northern area of the Treasure coast we always could get a good view of the smoke the shuttle leaves behind. However, Friday was a cloudy (remainder of a week long rainfall) and impossible to see anything. All I saw were clouds and lots of traffic driving at fast speeds on the highway. Yet, in the Space Coast there was finally a bit of blue sky that allowed Atlantis and it's astronauts to take off.


For me, just pulling off to the shoulder allowed me to take a moment and nostalgically remember being a kid in elementary school.

Atlantis (first flight 1985 - final flight 2011)