Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

I just said this in a comment to someone else's journal, but I feel like putting it where more of my friends will see it...

I cried when I saw the photos of the first untethered spacewalk: that was the day I discovered that envy could physically hurt. I wanted so badly to be there, floating, not attached to the ground, not attached to a ship, however briefly. I don't recall off the top of my head whether that was before or after the Challenger explosion.

When I heard about Challenger, I was in a car with three co-workers. Someone asked, "If they offered you a seat on the next shuttle mission, would you take it?" At least one person -- I think it was two or maybe all three -- said no way. I said, "I'd be scared shitless, but I'd still go. I want space that badly."

I'd still go. And you know what? The question's even easier to answer today than it was then.

Somebody with more dreams than self-preservation instinct has built a replica of the Wright Flyer and plans to fly it on the 100th anniversary of that first powered flight, this coming December. I want to be there. I understand that person.

Today even more than most days.