Moonstruck

44 years ago on July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the moon.

I remember how excited we all were that day - my parents, sister and I had just returned home, not sure I remember where we had been. The living room TV wasn't working and we all piled into my parent's bedroom to watch the events unfold on a 12-inch black & white television screen. I can remember how we cheered at Armstrong's immortal words "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

It was then that I looked at my parents' faces and saw the wonder and awe, the world that they had been born into was forever changed once again. A human being had actually set foot on an icon that, until then, was only the source of romantic songs and sci-fi stories.

As a writer I am constantly aware that the world is changing daily. Everyday household chores, travel, communications, politics, fashions, medicine... just a few of the things that have changed since I was a kid. My grown children look at me with amused expressions when I talk of a time when no one traveled in space, we didn't use computers to do our homework, when the phone rang and you either answered it or didn't, we didn't have cell phones, caller ID, or Skype, a time when the only way to be immune to Chicken Pox was to suffer through a bout.

In Final Sin, Jake proposes to Julie despite qualms about the age difference and not having known each other that long - he explains his feelings to her friend Matt, "You know, after nine-eleven, everybody seemed to know somebody who lost someone, and I just didn't want to wait forever to ask. I never expected to need someone so much ever again".

(When I wrote that I thought about when my own husband proposed to me in 1974, a time when the Twin Towers being attacked was unfathomable, most of us were still adjusting to the iconic structures as part of the NYC skyline.)

But I digress...

We now live in a world where reaching for the stars isn't just an expression - it's reality. Today this blog post is a salute to the brave dreamers who truly went where no man has gone before, thank you Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Mike Collins and all the men and women who made that great journey into space.