I love blogging, using words to tease out the meaning and whimsy of everyday life, capturing moments in perpetuity, like holiday ornaments that can be appreciated each time we dust them off and hang them on the tree.
Holiday Hiatus on Blogging
But during the holidays, when family is here, I’d rather be IN the moment, ENJOYING the moment, than simply OBSERVING the moment to write about it. So there’s been a holiday hiatus on blogging here at Glover Gardens. We’ve had family and friends and food and festivities and joy for about a week. Heavy emphasis on the joy! There was barely enough time to sleep, let alone write.
A Story for You: “The Best Birthday Gift”
The blog reopens now, with a story about an unusual birthday gift.
Our holidays started with The Grill-Meister’s birthday on the 21st. Tom’s birthday actually started even earlier than that, with “the best birthday gift”, a unique opportunity enabled by his son Brandon, who works at SpaceX. Spoiler Alert: one of his books got to travel on a SpaceX rocket! (And this is really cool, because his books are about time travel and space.) I’ll let you read the story in Tom’s own words, from his Facebook post (click “see more‘ in the post to read the whole wonderful story).
The Grill-Meister’s Books
The Last Shuttle
For nearly two decades, a top-secret NASA space telescope kept watch on the Solar System’s closest neighbor, star system Alpha Centauri, in the hopes of detecting life-sustaining planets. Inexplicably, the satellite’s orbit was beginning to decay, its mission about to come to an abrupt end as it would soon enter Earth’s upper atmosphere and vaporize. There was one man alive who could prevent the accident. Forced by his former boss into a daring rescue mission, ex-NASA scientist Dr. Frank Carver reluctantly joins the crew of re-commissioned space shuttle Discovery, with one simple objective: recover the satellite’s secret data. He would soon discover that mission was anything but simple.
Sentinel
A decade ago, Dr. Frank Carver was reluctantly thrust into a daring rescue mission in outer space. Saving NASA’s space shuttle Discovery and her crew, he was hailed a national hero. After years in seclusion coping with the haunting memory of his encounter with the enigmatic alien named ‘Sentinel’, Carver soon discovers that history does indeed repeat itself as circumstances propel him once again into an adventure far more extraordinary than any he could imagine. This time, Carver, his wife Peggy and former boss Ben Davis discover that the stakes are much higher, with the fate of mankind hanging in the balance.
If you read the story about the gift in Tom’s Facebook post, you’ll know that he was very moved by this gift. I cried, too, when Brandon called to tell us about it ahead of the rocket launch. It was so touching, a perfect gesture of love from son to father. They’re both avid space and astronomy enthusiasts, maybe even to the extent of being ‘astrophiles’. They explore this shared interest every time they’re together, and Brandon knew exactly how much it would mean to Tom that The Last Shuttle got to ride in a rocket.
Hope Your Holidays Were Great!
I hope your holidays have been filled with similar heartwarming stories and connections with loved ones. I’d love to hear from you – feel free to drop a note in the comments with your own “best gift” or other holiday story.
© Glover Gardens, 2024
That’s amazing! A unique gift.