To the Moon and Back...

In Janurary of fifth grade I sat on the rough brown-orange carpet with all the other 5th and 6th graders of Lincoln Elementary School's library floor...

Watching and waiting with Excitement...10,9,8,7...

I was instantly drawn to space in those moments, and the weeks before as my teachers had excitedly explained what was going to happen up there, in space...

6, 5, 4...The excitement was contagious...teachers, peers, and I, anxiously watching.  What would it be like out there in space?...

                                3, 2, 1...Liftoff...

The hopes and dreams of an American people.  This was an exciting mission because it was sending a down to earth non-astronaut into space for the first time.  A teacher, Christa McAuliffe, who was going to do some science experiments in orbit while schoolchildren, like me, would be watching.  Space became real, and possible. 

Hope was rising up inside us all as those rockets propelled the Challenger Space Shuttle higher and higher...

...and then...disaster...

73 seconds... then silence.

The TV was quietly turned off and we were told to go back to class without much explanation.

That event is so vivid in my mind. And space always was something spectacular to me.  In fact, I love to star gaze.  I also am fascinated by the moon.  I often wondered what it was like to see the moon landing on TV years ago.  I love looking at the surface of our lunar neighbor through telescope lenses. And when Challenger exploded, I lost something.

But last week, the whole week, I was like that little girl sitting on the carpet again. This now teacher, is so glad it was spring break and that NASA now has a YouTube channel with live feeds.  I was figuratively in space much of this last week through that video stream coming from thousands upon thousands of miles away. We were going back to the moon.  The fifty year wait was over.  We weren't just going into earth orbit, we were going to deep space.(Not that going to earth orbit isn't amazing or spectacular, because I still find that pretty dang cool.)

Not only were we doing this fantastic thing, but we were doing it with the first African-American Pilot and the first women Mission Specialist. This was history happening right before our eyes...and it was something good instead of the often depressing historic and newsworthy events of today.

Lift off was perfect and I was on the edge of my seat watching with my kids while enjoying our weekly sushi tradition at a local grocery store.  I remember looking at a different table and a young boy and his dad were also watching.  This was incredible!

And the images sent back from Artemis, also incredible:

This wouldn't have  been as special of an event if it was an unmanned spacecraft like happened during The Artemis I  Mission  in 2022.  It was a pivotal mission in preparation for Artemis II and it's four person crew, yet it wasn't as impactful or as newsworthy.  See, the human element is still important and inspirational.  

In her speech at the welcome home event, Astronaut Christina Koch spoke of the importance of a human crew and what it meant to be a crew: "A crew. If people are, you know, a group that is in it all the time, no matter what. That is stroking together every minute with the same purpose, that is willing to sacrifice silently for each other. That gives grace. That holds accountable. A crew has the same cares and the same needs. And a crew is inescapably, beautifully, dutifully linked. So, when we saw Tiny Earth, people asked our crew what impressions we had. And honestly, what struck me wasn't necessarily just Earth, it was all the blackness around it. Earth was just this lifeboat hanging undisturbingly in the universe... So, I may have not learned, I know I haven't learned everything that this journey has yet to teach me, but there's one new thing I know. And that is Planet Earth, you are a crew."

It truly is amazing when we work together, like the team at NASA from astronauts to engineers, to mission control, the whole team, we can make miraculous things happen.  This mission gives me hope in humanity and that we can do the unthinkable.  

Thank you to this Artemis Crew, and all of NASA, for giving Crew Planet Earth new hope and especially for giving us 10 days of "Moon Joy."

 Artemis II Crew: Jeremy Hansen(Canada),  Christian Koch, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman.

All photos can be found on NASA's website in their image and video library HERE.

Possibility in the Shadows.

 I am often the first to admit that I ride a roller coaster  of emotions. 

The past year has been the six flags of my life. Let's be honest, the last week has been a ride. Coming back from an amazing vacation probably spun me into a bit of sadness. The post vacation letdown is real!

Arizona was dreamy.  I was able to stay in a very gorgeous house owned by a very good friend's sister.  Baseball made me very happy.  Two games in two days was pure bliss.  As I sat on the first baseline for the second game, I remembered something very important.  Doing what you love should always be a good thing.  If somebody sees it as silly or a waste of time, that is their thing to own, not yours.  I won't mention any names because I am really trying to have a heart of forgiveness, but I heard "Sports are stupid" for a time and it threw me into a spiral.  How could something that is so much a part of me and something that has brought me so much joy be stupid or a waste of time.  This something also has paid bills for 24 years of my life.  A passion I have has actually turned into my career.  That isn't silly.  So, I am deciding that not only my love of sports is going to be cultivated in my life, but again anything that brings me joy or happiness is going to be cultivated.

A few weeks ago, the kids and I went with a couple friends to another one of my happy places...

Having a pro hockey team here in Utah is a very cool thing.  I wish I could afford to go more often but the fact that I can get 15 dollar tickets a few times a year is magical. E has truly found a love in hockey and it makes this sporty mom's heart very filled.

Here is a haiku I wrote this morning as I was writing after a bit of contemplation about life.  I actually was sharing the story of Joseph and his brothers from the Old Testament of the Bible with my kiddos after I had done a little reading about the subject.  The church I am a member of, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is reading the Old Testament together and the theme of the week is all about forgiveness.  A really cool video about forgiveness that I watched and was touched by this morning can be found HERE.  Anyway, Joseph was sold into captivity by his brothers, but later in the story forgives them.  Forgiveness is an interesting subject to study and an even more interesting subject to dissect in our own lives.  

I have been carrying a lot of anger in my heart about the situation I currently am facing.  Little things that I would never imagine triggering anger do.  (Like the check engine light that keeps coming on in my car every two months) Being the only adult having to care for the little things around the house(or big things) and in keeping the kiddos afloat in school and extra curricular can feel a bit overwhelming at times.  I am often angry.  I sometimes don't want to have a heart of forgiveness.  I want to hold on to that anger.  There is nothing wrong with being angry, don't get me wrong.  Jesus even was angry outside of the temple as he threw the tables of people selling goods there.  But...there is something that makes us stuck as we hold on to those feelings.

As we decide to give those feelings back to God, I feel that we can then free ourselves from being stuck.  So, I am processing my anger and looking for possibilities.  I am also in a sense looking for myself.  Where is that Alice that existed before the stuck? That is my job to figure out now.  This is my purpose.

Now, here is the haiku, sorry it took a few paragraphs to get to:

Possibility:

sometimes hidden in the shadows;

Cultivate the light.

I took a little searching jaunt through my garden this morning.  We are definitely experiencing spring here, and I noticed quite a bit of possibility.

From new leaves on rose bushes, to sunflower sprouts, to Tiger Lily shoots, to one branch of blossoms on a dying plum tree, to baby leaf buds...my garden is demonstrating possibilities. The spring always gets me to contemplate renewal and brings me a whole lot of hope.  As we approach this Easter Season, may we too find hope and possibility in the ultimate renewal.  There is no coincidence that Easter comes in spring.  The tomb opened bringing hope for eternal life.  Spring is bringing a whole new hope for change and purpose as I weather my storm.  

If you got this far, thanks so much for reading my silly little(or in this case long) posts.  I think I will be starting up a haiku festival on my socials.  I didn't make it though lent this year.  My soul just needed caffeine and chocolate.  I think I will embrace it.  So, journey back over to Facebook or Instagram to join in the fun, or comment here what haiku(s) you would like me to write.

Poetry from #tinywinterpoem

 The #tinywinterpoem has come to an end.  I didn't post on the daily like I would have liked but decided to share some of what I wrote.  

"Demanded:" I wrote a series with this word.  The last is the conglomerate of what was best from that series!

1. 

He demanded it.

A laundry list of ideas

The impossible

2.

Demanded: millions

Ransom for an old lady

the oddest story

3. 

The impossible

Filling the voids of his mom

still he demanded.

4. 

Was it a cop out?

A laundry list demanded

An excuse to leave.

5. 

I am not your mom

A laundry list demanded

An excuse to leave!

6. 

Sit down and shut up

I wish I had demanded,

Forced a listening ear.

7. 

Mom, come over here.

One of her divers demands

Shopping used to be fun.

8.

Grief makes one unhinged

"More like my mom," he demanded

And much less like you.

"Carried"

1. 

The burden carried

upon unsteady shoulders

is meant to be dropped.

2.

Carried in my arms

Many days felt very long

How I wish them back.

"Arched"

1.

She bends, bridge making

Arched back, pausing from motion

a stop then moving

2.

My little ballerina

Ballet shoes and buns

Arched heels, pointed toes, the spins

My ballerina

"Wished"

1.

All I had wished for

Love's promise forever

Now a skeleton.

2. 

All to Half

All I had wished for

Picked fence, little family

Now 50%

"Brushed

Our Nemesis

She says she brushed it

With so much hair, some gets missed

The snarls: Nemesis

A few bonus poems here from me just writing and being sad the #tinywinterpoem was over.

Still in my Contacts

I thought of you now

then picked up the phone before

realizing you're gone.

Until there was Nothing Left

I thought about us...

    Not all of it was bad...

        the falling, the establishing,

                the promising,

        and of course, the children, the family...

Yet within the good

    Too much "not so good" was sprinkled

        and cultivated, and stirred

    and of course, ignored...

Until there was nothing left

        but the sprinkles...

Legacy Lives On

 My favorite author, Beth Kempton, is always doing cool daily writing challenges.  Her Winter Writing Retreat always fills my soul around Christmas.  In February, she always hosts a poem writing extravaganza called #tinywinterpoem, where she gives a daily word and invites writers to take ten minutes and create a poem without editing.  I will share them here for the next little while:

Legacy Lives On

My grandfather

    through sweat and tears

        sacrifice and perserverence

built the barn

    cleared the land

        planted the crops

                raised the animals

From Nothing

                    into Something

A Dream

                    into Reality

Doubts

                    into Belief

Pitfalls were plenty

Legacies are blind to each one...

Now just a memory

        as family morphed into corporate

And only a few lucky enough to make the transition

Just as he

                the creator of his kingdom

                        the farm and all its fruits

                                have withered and fallen

                                        returning back to dust...

Remembered in stories

told by his kin

and in the ghosts

who echo within the wind...

Legacy lives on!

You Can Take the Catholic Out of the Girl but...

 Happy Fat Tuesday.  Some people refer to this as Mardi Gras...Guess what?  Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday!"  Some may even go as far as saying Carnival...that is just another part of the world celebrating for a whole week.  What are they celebrating?  Basically, it is a period of gluttony before a fast.  This fast is the 40 day period just before Easter.  This fast has been around for centuries. Fasting has always been used in religious devotion to purify the individual fasting. The number 40 has always been used to symbolize purification: Jesus in the desert, the Israelites in the wilderness, Moses on Mount Sinai, and Noah on the Ark.

I have continued to revisit my Catholic roots each year as Lent comes around. I have fasted from various things.  My favorites are chocolate, soda and swearing.

This year I am doing a trifecta of give ups.  

1. Social Media*-I scroll way too much.  It gets in the way of lots of things like reading, hanging with my kids, and being mentally healthy and less anxious.

2. Soda-I have started to crave soda around 3:30 every single day.  This shows me that I am relying on caffeine a bit too much.  Some may even say that this is an addiction.

3. Sugar-This has also been a favorite way to self soothe of late.  I have been in the thick of things as my life has been turned upside down.  Chocolate, cookies, and Nerd Clusters have become my security blanket.  I also feel that this blanket has been screwing up my skin and my gut.  So, bye bye sugary treats. Hello Salad...we meet again!

Do any of you practice Lent?  If so, what are you refraining from this year?

May the force be with us!

Donuts earlier this week.

Shamrock Shake: Part of Fat Tuesday

Not pictured from my gluttonous Fat Tuesday: Pretzel Flipz, Cadbury Mini Eggs, Cadbury Creme Egg, Nerd Clusters that I didn't get to eating. 

*I may come onto socials on occasion to update my peeps on new blog posts.  Here's to less scrolling and more writing!