Awe is Still The Right Word

July 20, 2019

Fifty years ago I sat in my parent’s living room and watched, along with millions, as Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon. Along with Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, the Apollo 11 crew made history. I was a sleepy 15 year old, but even so, I grasped the sense of how enormous a moment it was. The fact that we sent people to a place that no one had ever been seemed just incredible. I still get emotional when I think of the enormous effort made by hundreds of thousands of people to see it done.

Like many boys my age, I grew up listening to astronaut records, built model spaceships, and dreamed of being in outer space. Many thoughts and dreams die in life, but those died the hardest. Yet, I’ve learned not to regret, but instead to enjoy, to revel in the fact that human beings accomplished such a feat.

The memories will be there for as long as I have breath. And for me, every time I think on that moment, I still find that awe is the right word.

– Jim B.