A Day to Remember

Friday, January 28th marks two days of profound loss in my life.In 1986, as a fourteen year old girl, I remember where I was when I learned that seven heroic men and women had "slipped the surly bonds of earth". Sitting in biology class, my teacher was called out of the class. When she returned, she was crying. She told us that the Shuttle Challenger had exploded during take-off. I remember that several of us almost laughed in shock.A television was rolled onto the classroom and we watched them play the incident over and over. It was a Kennedy assassination moment for me. I was profoundly different afterwards.I learned in those short moments that very few things are sure. I learned that dreams can be mighty but can be dangerous, even deadly. When Christa McAuliffe was chosen as the first Teacher Astronaut, it seemed a dream come true. Now she was lost to her children and husband, as were the other six crew members.Twenty four years later, another great soul slipped from this world to the next. My father-in-law lost his brave battle to the dreaded "C" on January 28, 2010. And at 38, I still saw lost dreams in the eyes of my mother-in-law, my husband, and my children. While this loss was not recounted on the news or played over and over, it still stopped me in my tracks.This weekend, I payed homage to both losses. I am not the same girl of 14 nor am I the same woman of 38. I am informed by both losses, yes, but I am also informed by the hopes and dreams of those I lost.A person's life and value is not defined by how they leave the Earth whether it is in a hospital bed or a stream of smoke across a blue sky. We choose little about how we die, we choose much about how we live.I don't know if my final breaths will capture the attention of the world or of a select few. I hope only that they will be taken with the comfort of a life well lived, of love deeply given, and love equally well received.Many have slipped the bonds of this world to take flight in the next. Many have lived their lives fully and reached for the stars in their lives. It matters not if the stars were in the outer atmosphere or their eyes, the Earth moved because they were here. And I am better for it.