Three Days and Nine Steps

Three days and nine steps . . . Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon . . . he became an overnight sensation! Right.
If it were really that easy. If dreams manifesting into realities could happen so quickly and effortlessly. If there really was such a thing as an overnight sensation - well, I guess it wouldn't be so sensational.
In 1969, I was young and had no real appreciation for the magnitude of such a feat - walking on the moon (or even getting there for that matter).
I grew up in the era of Science Fiction and had assumed I would be wearing a cool silver and white space suit and flying around like Judy Jetson by the time the Millennium - the futuristic year of 2000 - rang in. It was not such a big thing for me - it was expected. Those old expectations fell to the wayside. I'm still wearing cotton, driving on the ground . . . kind of still waiting to lift off.
Now, much older and a little wiser but still not able to fully understand (therefore not fully capable of appreciating) what it means to dream such an incredible and seemingly unattainable dream and believe it into existence through determination, research, knowledge, diligence, persistence, assistance, blood loss, sweat, fear and tears . . . and eight years.
J.F.K did not live to see the dream he dreamed for the nation come true - but his dream gave us and the entire world hope that we can do the same in our own worlds.
Yes, I saw "In the Shadow of the Moon," last night. And I loved it. And I needed it.
If we can put a man on the moon then . . . fill in the blank with your own personal dream.

Knocking on Heaven's Door

"There's a lady who's sure, all that glitters is gold, and she's buying a stairway to heaven . . ."
The grand illusion of depositing money into that heavenly account happens every Sunday in church. But the fact is, buying a trip on a stairway to heaven, or rather an elevator to the stars is not as impossible as it sounds. A space elevator, a concept popularized by Aurthur C. Clark in "The Fountain's of Paradise,' is actually closer to reality than science fiction - according to a recent Nova program I watched. I wonder how much a ticket to ride will cost? I wonder how safe the ride will be? But it might be a fairly good investment - I mean, even if the elevator doesn't make it safely to the top, the rider will be about 22,000 miles closer to heaven.