I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in so long! To say I have been busy is an understatement! Two year olds are tough...2 two year olds is crazy!! The only reason I have time to update is because I'm in Florida for a couple of weeks and finally have time to catch up on some things! I just got back to FL from a crazy, but fabulous weekend in Austin seeing my cousin, Chris marry his beautiful bride Sangeeta!! What an amazing wedding!! All I can say is I wish I was Indian so I could wear a beautiful Sari and a beautiful wedding gown!! My girls were able to flower girls as well in the wedding and did much better than expected! I fully expected a meltdown when we pushed them down the aisle with more photographers trying to take their pictures than a Brittany Spears meltdown...lol. They did great! I ran around to the front and called them down to me (between all the photographers) and they eventually made their way down. I hope to get some pics up soon so stay tuned!
In other news, we've been busy with Little Miss Kayla. We took her to an orthopedic surgeon a couple of months ago as her left leg is still pretty turned in and she was still walking funny and complaining of pain in her leg, so I just wanted to have her checked out. Well, after an MRI and consult with a neurosurgeon, it appears that she has what is called a "Tethered Spinal Cord" which is basically that her spinal cord is attached to the base of her spine where it should be dangling free. So as she grows, her spinal cord is being pulled downwards and possibly causing her legs to turn inwards. The solution to this is to do nothing and wait to see if it gets worse or surgery. The first neurosurgeon wants to do some additional testing to see if she is having neurological impairment from it before jumping to surgery so I am ok with that approach. We are also trying to get a second opinion from another neurosurgeon as well. I am thankful to be living in a city where I have several pediatric neurosurgeons at wonderful Children's hospitals so close by!
And finally, one of the other things I have been dealing with is the coming end of the Space Shuttle program. To say I am sad is an understatement. Few understand what it means to me and so I figured I would just post my thoughts as I never am able to express it verbally quite right. To work on the Space Shuttle has been my life's dream...ever since I was 7 years old and saw STS-1 from my backyard to when I started working with NASA in the 9th grade at Kennedy Space Center as a student intern. At the age of 15 I started working summers as an intern at KSC and then continued on as a college student majoring in Engineering JUST so I could get out and continue working on the shuttle. In my mind, I knew this program couldn't last forever...but it never dawned on me that I wouldn't be working on SOMETHING taking humans into space! This reality is hitting home with me now as we work to launch our final last two Shuttle missions. After nearly 22 years working for the space program, I am now in a strange world of having to figure out what to do next. This is NOTHING compared to my close friends that I have made who will be out of jobs in the next few months. To all of us, it feels like we are losing who we are...because to us...this was more than a job. It was our pride and joy...we loved going to work every day and seeing our accomplishments in every shuttle liftoff and landing. We cried and suffered with the losses of Challenger and Columbia. Our work is our life and our coworkers are our family. Being here in Florida right now is heartbreaking. To see foreclosures on every corner in my once thriving neighborhood, to possibly seeing dear friends for maybe the last time as they pack up and look for other opportunities in other parts of the country, to feel guilty that I will still have a job (albeit not one that I necessarily want to be doing...but it's a paycheck) while friends who are much smarter and talented than I are collecting unemployment. I feel helpless and depressed beyond words. I have spent more than 2/3 of my life preparing for and doing this job and now it will only be a memory for my children to hopefully read about in their history books. I pray and pray that our leaders do what is right and not let us fall behind in manned spaceflight. Not just so I can have a job, but so that my girls can be inspired as I was. So that our country can be united again.
(Sorry for the rant, but this is a really hard trip for me knowing that I may not see dear friends again as they run looking for better opportunities...I guess I just needed to vent). :(
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I can feel your sadness and heartbreak through the words you wrote. I hate to see the program come to an end, and so many left with uncertain futures. We will add them to our prayer list, and pray that god will bring them comfort and hope.
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