Look who welcomed Amanda back to California yesterday!
Our daughter Amanda graduated from Army Basic Training in South Carolina and flew to Los Angeles to then catch a plane to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey where she will be learning Arabic. When she landed in Los Angeles, the space shuttle Endeavor was her runway partner. She shot this photo out the window of the plane.
Wasn’t it nice of NASA to welcome her home?
The space shuttle flew over my husband’s office in Sacramento on its farewell journey. Sacramento area residents packed rooftops, overpasses, and the Capitol Mall to witness the event. Hundreds of thousands turned out for the open-air retirement party.
I’m sorry I didn’t get to see it in person. Spontaneous tears took me by surprise when I watched the Sacramento flyover on the news. I suppose my tears stemmed from a mixture of pride, gratitude to the brave astronauts and their families, and awe of the American engineering ingenuity.
Did the Endeavor fly over your town? Did you see it? Did you watch it on the news? I’m curious . . . how did it make you feel?
P. S. Amanda finished Basic Training, but I have one more of her letters home I will share with you soon.
