From 8 to 80

Friday is the 6th monthiversary of David’s death. Sam has Presidents Day off and Jim and I fly to LAX, rent a car, spend the afternoon with Savannah, and the evening with both of them.
At 3:30 a.m. this morning, our friend, David, picked us up at home; his car exterior thermometer read 8 degrees Fahrenheit. By the time we got to California it was an order of magnitude higher. 80 degrees, palm trees, and flowers.

I pull out my T-shirt and capris for the afternoon. When Sam gets home we walk to SpaceX for a delicious cafeteria supper and a Sam-guided tour of the plant. It's like being on a movie set, walking in the factory where huge rocket parts are being made and assembled. There's even a large 'mission control' room with an oversized screen to display the launches from Cape Canaveral. The founder, Elon Musk, envisions colonizing Mars. Heady stuff. Sam, armed with his business degree from Brigham Young University, works on the supply chain for the Draco thrusters on the Dragon payload module.

We’re all aware of this six month mark. December 28, 2014, our friend Ellen did a photo shoot of our family. David had been in the hospital right before Christmas and I worried he wouldn’t make it. But there he is, alive and happy.