I wasn't trying to promote my birthday (I tend to keep it low-profile), just wanted to share the personal meaning of the photograph of Ed White's spacewalk. I think we all have reminiscences like that, things, particularly images, that trigger an association that reveals how much space flight means to us.

Not sure I've come to grips with one follow-on that sounded a bit like a young'un asking Gramps what it was like "back in the good ole days". Sigh...I'll get used to my age. Someday. The consolation is that we've all been witness to history, to the parts that overlap our lifespans, and my understanding of my own place in the timeline has been enriched by the reminiscences of my elders. I feel as if I've lived more of the 20th century than can be accounted for by my birthdate, and it comes from vicariously sharing the experiences of those born before my time. Passing it on down the years is simply good karma.

"You young whippersnappers, ya think history began the day you were born. Well let me tell ya what it was like in my day, when nerdy engineers in short-sleeve shirts with pocket protectors and sliderules went to the Moon! When astronauts were fighter jocks with the Right Stuff! There was no TDRS back then, no video, hell, there were no zero-gravity toilets; and men like John Glenn drifted all alone in space, out of contact with the Earth below for long periods of time. It was a time of courage, of greatness..." and so on and on and on ad nauseum.