Trip to NASA

By Robert Darnell


We all come to each occasion different directions and the great variety offered by that fact is what makes life so downright interesting.

We here in Houston think of love, live with, communicate. With Hunter, Old Mom, Mrs Lloyd O, and our own special term -- behind her back, of course -- "The Old Bitch" from our own direction.

Any reference to or about Old Mom, that Grand Lady, is always with the highest respect and admiration. We have no lows or negatives regarding her.

What we have are fond memories of our time spent with her. Time which goes way, way back. Of course there are so many things to think about we could write volumes.

But one of the recent days that we spent together was this Spring. We all wanted to go out to NASA to tour the Space Museum and Rocket Park.

It was a raw, windy grayish day and when we parked we were happy that the museum was all inside and comfortable. But it didn't turn out that way because the exhibit encompassed many buildings spaced out over a least a mile.

Hunter wanted to see it all, so we plowed through those buildings and down those windy stretches like a group of Japanese tourists. Old Mom posed for a picture by a moon landing vehicle and she said: "Does that really go to the moon? I'd like to take a ride in that."

After we walked our legs off up to our knees we went down to Kemah to find some seafood. After checking around to find a place that suited our needs and tastes we found one sticking out over the water, up two flights of stairs. Bob was pulling, catching, helping Old Mom up the stairs and I tell you she was like a limp rag doll by the time they got to the top.

She said, "Whew, Bob, that was some climb. Let's get some of that fish and hot coffee."

That night when we got back home and cozy-ed down, Old Mom didn't have to take any sleeping pills. Nor did any of the others. Our tribute to her is that she is a true scout, a participant, a non-complainer, a good companion. We love her.

That's the direction that we come from in our tribute to Old Mom. We will be waiting expectantly until she comes next year and we can get on with it.