The Blog Less Traveled

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend. The weather here in Michigan was great. We spent some of the weekend with family and friends in Grand Haven and enjoyed a nice picnic at the park watching all the boats and people along the channel. There were definitely a wide range of people and clothing styles to both admire and be amused by. Later in the evening we had a little campfire and roasted some hot dogs, marshmallows and s’mores. The only thing missing was our daughter who is hard at work in Pennsylvania. We missed you Beaners!

As I’m writing this, I’m feeling a little guilty. This is supposed to be a day for celebrating all the fallen heroes who died in service of their country. I know that there were services and parades in many cities around the country to observe this fact. However, it seems that Memorial Day has just become another 3-day national holiday. It’s pretty much lost most of its true meaning and is now known more as the start of the summer season as anything else. I’ve become as guilty as everyone else so I’m certainly not pointing fingers at anyone. I think I’d like to see Congress change Memorial Day observance to the last Wednesday in May. Maybe that would remove it from the 3-day weekend mentality and bring its true meaning back into the limelight. What do you think?

As a final thought to maybe bring the true meaning of sacrifice to the forefront, below is the text of the letter that President Lincoln wrote to the mother who lost all five of her sons in battle during the Civil War.

Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.

Dear Madam,–

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,

A. Lincoln

I found some of the below songs on a few websites that claimed they’re actual song titles. I know that a few of them are real, but I didn’t bother to check them all. Even if they’re not actual song titles, who cares. They’re still pretty funny.

• There Ain’t Enough Room In My Fruit Of The Looms To Hold All My Lovin’ For You
• Get Your Tongue Outta My Mouth ‘Cause I’m Kissing You Goodbye
• I Ain’t Gone To Bed With No Ugly Women, But I Sure Woke Up With A Few
• I Kissed Her On The Lips, And Left Her Behind For You
• I’d Rather Pass A Kidney Stone Than Spend Another Night With You
• She Got The Gold Mine And I Got The Shaft
• My Wife Ran Off With My Best Friend And I Sure Do Miss Him Now
• Liked You Better Before I Knew You So Well
• I’ve Been Flushed From The Bathroom Of Your Heart
• You’re The Hangnail In My Life, And I Can’t Bite You Off
• How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away?
• She Got The Ring And I Got The Finger
• I Fell In A Pile Of You And Got Love All Over Me
• I’m So Miserable Without You, It’s Like Having You Here
• I Never Really Loved You, I Just Drank Too Much
• She Broke My Heart, So I Busted Her Jaw

Another bucket list item bites the dust. I’ve always wanted to see a shuttle launch in person. I went down to Florida in late 2007 to finally see one, but it was cancelled at the last minute for technical problems. I was going to wait around for a day or two, but decided that there was no guarantee that it would make it, so I left. This particular shuttle did finally launch, but not until after a week had passed.

As luck would have it, my wife and I were recently invited to a wedding in Georgia. These were friends we had met over 25 years ago. We hadn’t seen them since 1986. One of their daughters was getting married who was only two years old the last time we saw her. We gladly accepted. At the time, I didn’t know that a shuttle launch was scheduled for April 5th, only two days after the wedding. A week or so before the trip, the shuttle launch was mentioned in a news article I was reading. What a great surprise and opportunity this was. We went to Georgia, had a great time attending our friends’ wedding, and left the next day for Florida.

We arrived in Titusville around 4pm the day before the launch. We didn’t have any plan as to where we would stay or watch the launch. We pulled into a bank parking lot next to a city park called Space View Park. As it turned out, this was one of the best public access areas to view a shuttle launch from. It’s on the Indian River, directly across from the NASA launch pads. You have an unobstructed view of the launch and there is a live audio feed from the mission control center. We were able to listen to all the audio going on between Houston Control, the local NASA launch site and the astronauts in the shuttle. We totally lucked out. Also, we arrived early enough so that we were able to secure a great spot. We ended up getting our sleeping bags out, and stayed the entire night in the park. That was definitely an adventure. I can’t remember the last time my wife and I went camping and slept in a sleeping bag. The weather was perfect for our outdoor camping adventure and there were plenty of people there to pass the time with. To top it off, we happened to be sitting by a Canadian gentleman who was a walking encyclopedia on all things space-related. This guy was telling us everything and anything related to the shuttle. He knew every fact and figure imaginable, and then some. It was really quite interesting listening to him.

As the scheduled 6:21am launch approached, people were excited and nervous. We were excited about seeing a night launch, but also nervous about the possibility of a cancelled launch for technical problems. After staying out all night, it would have been a big disappointment to have the launch scrubbed. It was pretty cool listening to all the live audio between the various control personnel and the astronauts aboard the shuttle. About 20 minutes before the final countdown, an announcement came over the PA system that a warning light had illuminated and the launch was put on hold. You could hear the crowd groan when it was announced. However, about 10 minutes later, the announcement was made that the problem had been fixed. There was a big cheer from the crowd. The weather was absolutely clear that evening. Not a cloud was in the sky. Because of that, we were able to see the International Space Station pass overhead about 10 minutes or so before the launch. That was an unexpected surprise.

At 6:21am, the launch went off as scheduled. Wow!!! What a sight. The sky really lit up as the rocket engines were ignited. The skyline went from almost total darkness to a brilliant white fireball. The people at the park were cheering and clapping like crazy. You can see and hear the shuttle for several minutes after the actual launch. It’s something truly amazing to see. Even after the shuttle finally disappeared in the sky, the people at the park were still pretty pumped up. To top it off, about 30-45 minutes after the launch, we were treated to a spectacular sunrise. We ended up doing quite a bit of driving in a short period of time to see this, but boy was it worth it.

This was the last scheduled night launch. However, there are three more daytime shuttle launches scheduled this year before the program is shut down. If you haven’t seen one yet, I highly recommend it. You won’t be disappointed.

Below is a short two minute video I took of the shuttle launch.

A teacher in Michigan asked her 6th grade class how many of them were Obama fans. Not really knowing what an Obama fan is, but wanting to be liked by the teacher, all the kids raised their hands except for Little Johnny. The teacher asked Little Johnny why he has decided to be different…again. Little Johnny says, ‘Because I’m not an Obama fan.’ The teacher says, ‘Why aren’t you an Obama fan?’ Johnny says, ‘Because I’m a Republican.’ The teacher asks him why he’s a Republican. Little Johnny answered, ‘Well, my mom’s a Republican and my dad’s a Republican, so I’m a Republican’.

The teacher asks, ‘If your mom was a moron and your dad was an idiot, what would that make you?’ With a big smile, Little Johnny replies, ‘That would make me an Obama fan.’