Space Shot

I just celebrated another birthday on February 9th. My greatest gift was our family gathering. Grandson Hayes was a delight, as usual.

February 7th was my father’s birthday. He would be 95 years old if living today. Dad was wise, resourceful, and solid as a rock.

As an eminent Mechanical Engineer who led Materials Testing at a world class laboratory in Birmingham for over 30 years, Dad along with others who listed NASA, the Jet Propulsion Lab, Redstone Arsenal, and the U.S. Department of Defense as clients helped put Man on the Moon and kept the former Soviet Union’s communist leaders from incinerating us.

Grandson Hayes enjoys Rocketry and Space. For my birthday, he gave me a framed hand-painting created by him with help from his mother of a USA rocket blazing towards the stars with the inscription, “Happy Birthday, Papa. Love you to the Moon!”

That masterpiece now sits in my office, above all other books and files. His work of art lifts my spirits just like Dad’s materials testing helped lift Man to the Moon.

Now, we just need to make a space shot at ending Duchenne. Tough task. However, it should be as achievable as our having safely delivered and returned fellow Americans to and from another heavenly body.

Thank you, Grandson, for your very wonderful gift!

Kindly,

Papa in Tennessee