The day the Challenger exploded in the sky

I was looking back on the day the Challenger blew up. I wanted so baldy to be an astronaut. Space travel was so exciting, and the fact that humans were comfortable enough to take a teacher with them showed me that anyone, and I mean anyone could go into space.  

We watched it live in our class, and I remember my teacher putting her hand over her mouth and turning it off, then going to her desk for a moment before moving onto the next activity. I had never seen a space shuttle launch before, so I didn't understand what I had just seen until later that night when it was all anyone talked about. The next day, everyone was so sullen, but I was determined not to let it stop me from going to space. When I told my teacher that I still wanted to be an astronaut, the whole class looked at me horrified. She said that anyone who wasn't afraid to still go into space after the accident was going to grow up brave and do big things.

She was so proud of me that she let me do the bulletin board while the rest of the class did an assignment. Not five seconds into it, I placed that stapler up against the bulletin board to staple some paper shape on and gave it a GOOD push....and stapled my thumb because I had the stapler backwards.

It's probably a good thing no one ever let me near space.

I also remember the moment of silence really well. I spent it talking to the teacher who was on the Challenger in my head and telling her that she was still teaching even though she was gone. Then the office called me to go to my little brother in his kindergarten classroom because he was freeeeeaking out.

He didn't understand what had happened, only that everyone had to be quiet because his teacher was going to blow up. He did NOT want her to blow up.

I got sent back to class before the kindergartners went home.