To the moon

Yesterday was 49 years to the day that man walked on the moon.

A friend posted that on Facebook and asked where we were when that happened. I remember it so clearly.

I was hanging out with a young farmer who had to wear braces on both legs and use crutches to get around. They were big, heavy metal braces that weighed a ton, but he was burly and strong and not one to let that get in the way.

Like most young men on farms he drove a big pick up truck. I remember his. It was black and white and had his name emblazoned on the door in fancy letters. However, it had one unusual gizmo that other boys didn't have. He had engineered his truck to work by using his hands instead of his feet. I remember it still had pedals, they were just higher up, beside the steering wheel.

On July 20, 1969 I wanted him to teach me how to drive that truck, so we went out in the country and practiced. I remember it didn't take long before I, too, was sailing through those winding little roads having the time of my life.

Then it began to rain.

Then it began to storm!

And finally it was such a deluge that I gave the truck back to him and we drove to a nearby friend's place to wait out the storm. They lived in a little white farm house with a functional front porch and a huge oak tree that shaded the whole front yard. I remember we did not park under that tree and it was a good thing. Within the hour, branches were on the ground, the woman's husband came in to report the bridge across the only passable road was out because of flooding and nobody was going anywhere!

It was actually fun like most adventures are, especially when you are young. We played with their babies, who really were named Adam and Eve, ate dinner at their big kitchen table and then went into the living room to try and watch the men land on the moon!

It was a very old television that depended on an antenna on their roof. The weather was terrible, but suddenly there it was! In grainy black and white, a man wearing a space suit placed an American Flag on the moon and we were watching! I was filled with awe that such a thing was possible.

Even then, at such a young age, I realized what a beautiful contrast that moment in time was when six people brought together because they couldn't get home across the flooded Illinois prairies watched two men who got to the moon in a state of the art rocket ship on an old tube filled black and white television.