Slipping away September 12, 2007
Posted by spacemom in : Parenting 101 , 2 commentsNow that we’ve been integrated into our school for, oh a week and a half, I can feel a difference.
Last night, Soleil asked me to rest with her. Since I was exhausted, I grabbed my pillow and did just that.
And we talked. She told me about the boy she played with at school. The books she reads. How the lights go off during "quiet time"(state mandated!oy!) How hard it is to make friends.
It was nice. We’ve had our share of sleep issues. Trust me on that! But I didn’t mind taking the time to rest with her. We were able to connect. We used to connect at the end of the day on the ride home from daycare. It’s about 30 minutes from daycare to our house in the evening. Now we rush to get Luna, and drive to the after school program and get Soleil by 6pm. We connect with Luna, but not Soleil.
I can see us slipping now. I can see her growing up. She is now in school She’ll start Girl Scouts soon (yippee) and in a year or two, she’ll be more and more independent. I want her to be independent. Oh yes, I want that, but it is hard to loosen the grip I have on her life.
I hope that we can maintain our communication. I hope that I can keep my mind open and sometimes snuggle with the girl who needs a little mommy time. Because as she grows, our relationship will change.
An ode to the Moon Goddess September 12, 2007
Posted by spacemom in : She Blinded me with Science , add a commentThe test was set, and commanding was approved
Waiting in space, the heaters shall disable
On earth, the DSN listens for the bird’s chirp.
But the Goddess stirs!
She demands the attentions of the antennae
She laughs at the Earthly weather!
A delay in her flight!
Now we wait in silence.
Will the Lunar Ruler grant us the time?
The time to check our lowly orb in the sky?
Or will she require us to wait
And bow to her needs?
SIGH…
Yes, we are conducting an operational test next week.
We need to check the spacecraft in a real-time communication,but the
schedule may change with the launch of a Japanese/NASA satellite. They
need to have the communications set for her burns to get into the
appropriate orbit around the moon.
And the schedule has already slipped a day due to weather.
May Selene** launch Friday, with no more issues!
This is my request today! Because I will have a hell of a great deal of paperwork to redo if this launch slips and changes the DSN schedule.
That is all!
**Astronomers, at least Americans, are very superstitious. Even though we know the name of the satellite, we use the former, on-the ground name, until it is in orbit. We did the same with our telescope, Spitzer did it, Hubble did it… It’s just how it works!
