It looks like the Space Shuttle's future flights have been grounded. What a disappointment! I hope the shuttle makes it home safely. Here is a portion of an article in the Daytona News-Journal today. It describes the excitment of a launch:

A Florida ritual: We're out to launch
I watched the take-off of the space shuttle Discovery from a rooftop along with about a dozen others. Below us, in the parking lot, people had gathered in groups of three and four.
All across town, you could see same thing happening in the last moments of countdown: People clustering in parking lots, on the beach, on sidewalks, the top of bridges and in the middle of lawns. All around Central Florida people stopped working, summer classes let out, shoppers left the store, joggers stopped running, office-building workers found their way to the top floors, cars pulled up on the beach or over to the side of the road.
Here, the launch watchers -- as opposed to people who are randomly staring into space -- could be identified by the tilt of their necks and the way they all faced south-southeast. The more experienced watchers had arms extended, pointing out the right section of the sky to the others

This morning I went for a hair cut at 10:30. The shop is at the beach. The Space Shuttle was scheduled to lift off at 10:39. So I stood outside the shop with my plastic drape and towel on with the other ladies and we watched the shuttle fly by. What an awesome site! It looked like a ball of fire with a long trail of smoke that crossed the sky. After getting my hair cut and going back out, I could still see a long, curly trail of smoke. I'm really happy that it was a successful launch.

Rachel returned from Africa this week and emailed me some great pictures this morning. It looks like she had a great time. Here is one of her pictures. The lion in the picture was darted and was NOT hurt in any way. That's Rachel petting the lion. It looks like the guy beside her is going to pass out, or maybe he's possessed.

Welcome to my blog! I think being a nurse for quite a few years is enough to make anyone twisted. Some days it can be rewarding and some days it can down right suck. I hope I have enough balance in my life that I no longer get wrapped up in the drama of it all. I plan to add random thoughts, journal entries, rants, raves, photos, and whatever else is on my mind at that particular time.