July 16, 2014

45 years ago today, at 13:32 hours, Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Canaveral's Pad 39a to begin mankind's greatest accomplishment.

It was just 7 years earlier, when President Kennedy famously stated:

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win...".

John simply believed.

He believed it was possible.

It was indeed.

As the unexpected events of life for my youngest son unfolded this past week, I was affected in a way I am unaccustomed to.  I was saddened, and afraid.



The nurses and staff around noted that my experience with Type 1 would be of tremendous assistance.  In order to find clarity and the bits and pieces of knowledge I could bring to the table in that regard, I needed to glance back over my shoulder and stare back at the path I have walked since my diagnosis 38 years ago.

The one consistent trait that has fortified me the most over those years is that I have ALWAYS believed.

No matter the situation or turn of events, I have stone cold believed.



While others around me watched with varying degrees of nervousness and uncertainty, I soldiered on without any doubt or hesitation of success.

I still totally feel that way.

I believe, completely and wholly, that everything is going to be fine.

And it will.

As I listen the historic replay of the launch today, I will be totally focused on that fact.

Fact.