Tears before breakfast

Linc has been wanting to watch online videos of airplanes, blimps and rockets. I usually indulge this desire while combing his hair... it keeps him still for ten minutes and he's happy.

This morning's selection has included a bunch of space shuttle launches. Even though I haven't let him see either the Challenger or Columbia disasters (gotta read those headers carefully), even just seeing a shuttle on the launch pad reignites all those feelings of horror, loss and sadness.

I was reading the live AP news feed of the Challenger launch out loud to my friends at the student newspaper at UC Davis when the feed stuttered, the reporter paused... and the horrible news started appearing before my eyes.

I was in the middle of my second miscarriage, at a juggling festival, when I heard the news of Columbia. A friend had me braid seven memorial braids in his hair (one for each lost astronaut). My personal sorrow was diminished by this second national tragedy.

Am I the only one who cries when watching rockets launch?