Larry J said:

"There are so many ways you could've been hurt or killed in your rocket experiments. You were indeed lucky, and I can only wonder what kept you from actually firing the Beta."

When Alpha launched there were launch rail fragments flying everywhere. I was literally in Alpha's exhaust plume and covered from head to toe in blue zinc sulphate dust. When I came home, I was on a rush from having survived the experienced. My very relieved parents laughed at me when I smiled because my skin was stained blue by the rocket's exhaust and the pink of my gums stood out. I soon had another close call when an iron cannon I made exploded and put a small chunk of shrapnel in my sternum (it only went skin deep). As stupid as I was, I realized that I had used up all of my nine lives. This is why Beta today hangs from the ceiling of my garage.

My son will soon turn eight and has not yet been bit by the aerospace bug. If he does, I'll insist that I do all the loading and handling of rocket propellant (ideally I'd hire someone else to do that). He can have the fun of designing the rocket and actually launching it. However I'm not going to let him get killed by a rocket. Who knows, maybe we'll launch Beta together when he comes of age.

Gary