lunch with an astronaut!

Yes, I know that photo is fuzzy... but that's because we both moved and were laughing!
This was after the luncheon and I took my moment 'alone' with him for this photo to ask him about SR-71's in Okinawa. You see, he and I were both stationed there at the same time! Of course, he was Air Force and was at Kadena, while I was at Hanza, "the elephant cage on the hill". What an incredible coincidence, n'est-ce pas?
Oh, beg pardon, I have not yet introduced the man! Brian Duffy, retired NASA astronaut! He'll be 65 years old on June 20th, so his birthday is pretty close to mine! What a nice coincidence that is, too.
I had not known anything about him when I had signed up for the event. All I had known was that I wanted to have lunch with an astronaut during this vacation. When I had checked the website, the only lunch date available during my stay at Bryan's Spanish Cove was this one, on Mother's Day, so I took it...
not knowing we were so close in age...
not knowing we had a shared time in our military career...
not recognizing the coincidence in his name and that of the resort...
I definitely ended up in the right place at the right time!
i thank You, God!

What was for my lunch today?
Well, there was a salad with watermelon, and another with corn, and a spring mix that I hit with the key lime vinaigrette!
Then, there was a Caribbean-glazed chicken breast, three grilled and butterflied shrimp, and a sliver of tender roast beast!
Green beans had a place on my plate, too, and one curly noodle from the macaroni and cheese...
but not the bread or the desserts!
Besides, where would I have put them?

My tablemates were an interesting, and quite mixed, bunch.
The German man beside me was there with his daughter and his dad.
To my right was a couple with three young children.
And directly across from me sat Mohammed, of Abu Dhabi, another single like myself.
He's the one on the left in the white shirt, who had just asked Brian for some advice on becoming an astronaut, for he was in training for that very thing - WOW!

Brian's advice to the young man was absolutely perfect.
"I advise you to do two things.
First, decide what it is that you most enjoy doing.
Then, become the best at it.
Because it will be something you enjoy, you should be able to become the best at it.
Then, when NASA is putting together a crew and looking for someone with your skills, you are more apt to be chosen."


That's actually very good advice to anyone.
Find what you enjoy doing and put your efforts into doing it well.
I feel that I've done that!
Perhaps retirement is the next step, now that teaching is done. I've always enjoyed theatre - I think my next efforts will be in that arena. After all, I have all this experience of 'acting' in front of a new class every fall... and they've believed I was the professor!
(smile!)

As for the rest of this day at the Kennedy Space Center, I made it all about the astronaut, making sure to attend the Astronaut Encounter and Brian's talk about his last trip, STS-92, aboard Discovery.
That happened to be his second mission with three of the astronauts: Peter Visoff from STS-57 (the upper right badge); Leroy Chiao from STS-72 (the lower left badge); and Koichi Wakata, also from STS-72.
He showed us a movie of that last

mission he made in October, 2000.
He allowed us a peek into the daily lives of astronauts on the International Space Station.
I especially enjoyed that, as I took care to wear my turquoise shirt with Oskar on it! Remember that blind kitty who was off with his best buddy on "The Mission To Cataria"? Then, recall the fundraiser to send their book to the ISS to be read aloud by an astronaut? Yep, that's the shirt I wore!
(smile)

After having my photo taken with him again, I followed Brian's entourage to Atlantis for the autograph session. By coincidence, I had the thought to ask him to sign it to me, for my 60th... and he did!
i thank You, God!

Now, I am back in the pirate's realm
and I have booty of my own!
I found the Publix, in the drizzling rain and fading light, and this heart of sushi was waiting just for me.
How did they know I would be there?
Then, this bag was waiting when I checked out, and it's purr-fect for the bfe!
Not only because it's a cat...
but a cat constructed of earth tones and geometric shapes - a cubist cat!
I think I'll call it a late birthday gift.
(smile)

i thank You, God, for this truly blessed day of happy coincidences!