Passing It On

This past weekend, my parents and I took Little to a robot expo that was going on at the Strategic Air & Space Museum in Nebraska. The event was an all-day affair, but we got there kind of late in the afternoon, so most of the kiddos were packing up their projects and wearily heading home. We did see some awesome robot competitions, but we were expecting a bit more. So after looking at all we could find and flattening some pennies in the little machines (!), I pulled Little over to the space capsules and told her: This is how we used to go to the moon.

Little appreciates my love of space. She watched with great interest as I dumped a whole box of mini space toys in her lap later that afternoon (they are for my giant dollhouse project -- there will be a Space Room, naturally). She asked what each one did, and I explained the process of leaving earth, moving to different modules, driving around on the moon, and coming back in tiny, little capsules. Splash!

Little is a VERY smart girl. She's in special classes and everything because she is so smart. But she did get kind of a funny look on her face whenever I talked about how we really did go to the moon. It's the exact same look I get on my face when my mother talks about life before her family had a television or when my father talks about the Farmsville of his youth. Those concepts are SO incredibly foreign to me that it's hard for me to even imagine them -- even when I see pictures. I think that's how the moonshots are for Little. They are something in the realm of science fiction. Sigh. How I wish it could be different for both of us -- for us to SEE a moonshot in real life on our very own televisions.

In the gift shop, we picked up some robot items and then I snagged a book called Space Flight by Giles Sparrow. No matter how many books I read about the historical space programs or how many documentaries I watch, I can't get enough. Sadly, the book was published in 2009, and now even the glorious shuttles are gone. I wonder what a book about space flight would be like now? Well, we can't even get our own astronauts up to the International Space Station if needed, but whatevs. We made it to the moon first!

People poo poo our space program because it's expensive, but our lives would be a lot harder if we had never explored it. Click HERE to see a list of things that were all invented by NASA. Oh, sweet NASA, how I love you. In my dream world, I marry a Very Smart Engineer who works (mostly remotely because hell NO, I will NOT live in Houston because I am a delicate flower and can't handle the heat) for NASA. Good times. (Is there a NASA matchmaker out there?)

But even though we don't go, we can still think about it. And because my father loves the airplanes at the museum so much, he was able to tell Little what they were all called and what they were used for. And right at the end before we left, she looked up at me and said, "I want to come back here again when all of these people aren't here." Good girl. Yes, Grandpa and I will take you and tell you all about the planes and space machines. It's a date.