Blast Off

It was a typical rainy day and instead of letting us drive her crazy, Mom put Adam and me to work drawing and coloring. It was one of my favorite things to do aside from playing with all the other kids who live in the neighborhood.

Mom was in the kitchen making dinner and Adam was sitting at our dining room table with me, busy doing the same thing. It’s one of the few times I can recall the two of us not squabbling with one another.

In the corner of our living room was an old black and white television set Dad had borrowed from Pa Sanders. Jus’ recently on it, I had seen a rocket zoom into outer space and a space capsule float to earth, landing in the ocean — and it inspired me.

I think I drew as accurate a series of pictures as any little kid can of the Apollo 9 mission.