The passing of Neil Armstrong this weekend really got me thinking about world events in my lifetime and remembering where I was at the time.  There are a few events that, even though I remember very little about what I was doing around it, I distinctly remember what I was doing and where I was the moment it happened. The JFK assassination, the space shuttle Challenger disaster, the Reagan assassination attempt, they’re all burned into my brain.  But, Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon holds a special place.

I was at church camp.  And at church camp there weren’t any televisions.  They were a distraction and, to be honest, we always had so much fun we really didn’t care.  But on a hot July evening, with mosquitoes circling a hundred warm targets looking for their next meal, the counselors wheeled in a little black and white TV they borrowed from the dean’s house and with some twisting of the rabbit ears to pick up the faint signal way out in the woods, we watched in awe as Neil stepped on to the lunar surface.  A special moment in a special place topped off with his special words.

31 January 2002.  It was just months after 9-11 and the nation was still wondering when the next attack would come.  We were rotating back and forth to Washington state to provide contingency airlift support for the army in the event of another attack and it was my turn.  I would be leaving the next day.  It was a Thursday and I was at home packing when the phone rang.  It was my father-in-law Lou and he wanted to talk about an article he had read about our response to 9-11.  He wanted to get my perspective on what he had read and we had a long talk about national security.  He was WWII veteran and had always stayed engaged in what was going on in the world.  He was also part of the generation that worked hard, appreciated where they had been and how far they had come.  He was a generous man with friends around the country and the world but he was never one to wear his heart on his sleeve.  His hearty generation rarely showed public affection or emotion let alone talked about their feelings.

I finished the conversation by telling him what I was doing the next day, he wished me luck, and that was that.  I started to stand up to continue packing but before I could even get to my feet the phone rang.  It surprised me a little since it was still in my hand but I punched the green answer button and said “Hello”.  There was a long pause but before I could say hello again, Lou said “It’s me again, and I just wanted to tell you that you’re the best son-in-law a man could ever ask for.  I’ll see you when you get back, bye”.  And that was it.  We had always had a great relationship over the nearly 30 years we had known each other, but he never said anything about it.  It’s a “guy” thing.  I was too busy to think much about it so I just went about the task at hand.

I left the next day for the long, slow, Herk drone to McChord AFB and, upon arrival, checked into billeting.  I had no sooner unpacked my bags when my cell phone rang.  It was Peg, in tears, calling from the hospital.  Her parents had made their weekly Friday pilgrimage to Red Lobster and as her father stepped out of the restaurant he had simply fallen over and passed away from a massive aneurism.  Quietly and quickly, he was gone.  It was a long flight home the next morning and all I could remember was the last words he spoke to me.

You never know if the last thing you say to someone is really the last thing you’ll ever say.  So I guess the answer is, think before you speak, make everything you say meaningful and maybe say less but make it mean more.  Be slow to anger and quick to forgive and don’t let the sun set on a broken relationship that you might regret.

Godspeed to you Neil Armstrong as you take that last giant leap beyond the stars.  Dad, I miss you every day.  You’re the best father-in-law a man could ever ask for.