Nasa Tweetup Depression

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Nasa Tweetup Depression

Morning Sunrise Over
Grail Launch Pad

When I read the parts about how much a tweetup event at Nasa would change your life, I thought surely people were being a little too dramatic. Surely there was no way the Nasa Tweetup could do that much.

When I arrived at the Nasa - Kennedy Space Center, I was feeling kind of low in life. Too many issues were weighing hard on me from the monthly budget things to feeling like all these friends that I once had in life have vanished. If these friends are there, than they are sure being silent and I'm tired of trying to email or contact them only for it to never be reciprocated.

Actually when I got chosen to be on the backup list for this event, I waited patiently and anxiously to get the call. Finally a few days before, I got the email from Stephanie that I would get to go. I was so happy. About the same point, I exclaimed to my partner that I needed new friends! Viola! All of the sudden I had 150 new friends.

Of course, I don't know most of the other participants that well but I do feel the connection. After all, getting to a bus at 6 am with anticipation and wading through wet grass, being bitten by bugs and finally after some ups and downs, getting to see the rocket launch sure forms a bond with people that you otherwise wouldn't meet!

It was an exciting time being introduced to things I had never heard about before and seeing sights that I only could see on TV. It was just a few months ago when I saw the shuttle land that I stated how great it would be to be close up to the shuttle. Of course, now that dream has come true, seeing Endeavor in the Vehicle Assembly Building on our tour. This was a the adult field trip that I so needed as stated by Neil Degrasse Tyson. It has been a long time since anyone really challenged me but Neil and this entire event did just that.

Now though, as I am back home, I feel the letdown. No longer did I have to wait and anticipate a rocket launch or wake up at 5am to go see it. No longer do I get to pass by the Kennedy Space Center and Nasa signs in this beautiful wildlife reserve area. No longer do I get to hear all kinds of facts and information about space that just challenge my thinking to the core. No longer do I get to star gaze with some extremely intelligent people. No longer do I just get to hang out with an awesome group of people.

If this experience had this much impact upon my life, I'm wondering just what it was like for the astronauts who made the first trip to the moon, who walked on the moon, or the ones that started to build the International Space Station from scratch in outer space. How about the ones that did numerous space walks and felt the thrust of the rocket engines as they were hurled into space. I wonder what personal tales they would share or how they fit back in to the reality of life, once they arrived home. After all, unless you have been to space, I'm sure it is hard to completely describe what it is like to view the earth and universe from that perspective.

I will never forget this experience. It ranks right up there with being on Oprah last November. Even after that event, I felt such a big shift and metamorphosis in my life. It was also an uncomfortable let down for a few months, but I slowly started to regain my composure and shape. Life however, was no longer the same after that.

To me, the only thing that could top last week's events is if I got the opportunity to climb in a rocket and visit the moon! I've dreamed about it and will be interesting to see if it happens in my life time. For now, I'll work at getting myself back from space to earth again.

Mind - Body Thoughts

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Nasa Tweetup Depression

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