Moonwalking

I was nine years old on that Sunday, July 20, 1969. We had watched the television all week leading up to that Sunday. One night that week, I went to Jolly Burgers with the Van Vliets for dinner. Kim Van Vliet reported on the astronauts' heart beats on lift off. That was the sort of detail we were fascinated by.

The moonwalk was scheduled for the late afternoon. The Sacrament Meeting of the Oak Grove Ward was scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m., meaning that we might be in church at the time of the moonwalk. A meeting was held as to whether Sacrament meeting should be cancelled. They decided that it would go forward. My father, however, decided that we would not be attending that Sunday.

I cheered my father's announcement, and started to change from my Sunday clothes into jeans. Oh, no, my mother said. You will be staying in church clothes, even if we aren't going to church. This is not a day to goof off.

We drove over to my Grandparent Larsen's home on Happy Valley Road in Lafayette to have dinner and watch the moonwalk on their black and white television. My uncle Ron and his then-wife Nancy were present. We ate on their patio on the warm summer day. The capsule had landed on the moon by the time we arrived. The two astronauts were supposed to be resting before the moonwalk, but I always thought that NASA was just playing up the drama. We all joked about how if we were Buzz Aldrin, we would knock Neil Armstrong on the head, and head out to be the first person to walk on the moon.

The walk actually took place about an hour ahead of its scheduled time. We all came into the house and watched. It was nearly impossible to see or hear what was being said by the astronauts. But we all sort of cheered, and felt proud to be Americans that day. Nothing like reflected glory.

By the way, I heard that the Sacrament Meeting in the Oak Grove Ward lasted all of thirty-five minutes that day. The two speakers spoke for five minutes each, and everyone was home in time to watch the moonwalk.

Now for a report on a few less important steps for mankind: Yesterday, I walked 11308 steps. As of this moment, 7:49 p.m. on July 20, 2009, I have walked 293,304 steps in 25 days.