My Decade of Turning 50

I helped cover the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis yesterday, blogging here and shooting some video here. It’s hard not to get enthusiastic when you see something like a rocket launch. I feel as excited at it now as I did as a kid, when they would stop class to let us watch the liftoffs in the 1960s. Presidential candidates were asked recently what they would be if they weren’t politicians. I think I’d be an astronaut. Now that I am turning 50, I think sometimes of the choices I made for a career. There is much I love about journalism — in the end, despite our excesses, we can do good. But that is the high-minded answer. One truth is I like journalism because you get to witness history, minor and major. I hold some of those memories dear, but as day turns to night, it would have been great to make history and not just witness it.