Holiday Wishes

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to one and all. And sending hopes for peace and love in the coming year.

God Speed, John Glenn

I remember when John Glenn orbited the world.  My parents had decided to have some time together/aka a romantic weekend, and my sister and I were sent off to San Clemente to stay with a former housekeeper named Donnie.  She fried up corn tortillas, in spite of being Boston Irish, and we ate tacos and watched the TV as the news came in about John Glenn.  It was, obviously, the precursor of the moon landing and a bit of a one up to Alan Shepherd.  But I remember it vividly.

Years later I read, and then watched, The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe.   I had no idea that John Glenn’s wife stuttered or that he was a test pilot.  I didn’t know then that he would run for Senate and win and would go up in the Shuttle at age 77.  He just seemed to me to be a really decent guy.  Kinda like my father.