adsii1970

I've returned home after a quick trip to see my father. Personally, I do not care what your view of the Vietnam War is, but he is a Vietnam War veteran who did five combat tours between 1962 and 1975. He now is suffering from Agent Orange poisoning and all the related cancers and health conditions. He's 74 and I know we will not have too many more visits with him left - his doctors do not expect he has much longer than a year. His body is shutting down and he is not a chemo candidate - not that he wants it anyway. We may not have seen eye to eye, but he continues to be one of the heroes in my life. If you are a teen, don't ever go to bed angry at your parents. You never know when life may play one of those cruel jokes. You never know what moment may be the last chance you have to spend with them.

Overall, we had a good visit and while he was in one of the many mid-day five hour naps, I took my wife and 6-year old daughter on a quick trip to the Stennis Space Center along the Louisiana/Mississippi Gulf Coast. (This had a dual purpose. My daughter wants to be one of the first astronauts to go to the asteroid belt. She, like me, is fascinated by all things space related. And it gave my dad a chance to have some quiet time for his much-needed nap that day).

I've created a heavily edited photo album to share with you. The engine with my daughter on my shoulders is from the first stage of a Saturn V rocket, what would have been Apollo 20, had the program not been cancelled. The assembly laying on its side is from the cancelled Apollo 19 mission. And yes, I touched it!