“We will soon start the count off.”
A loud speaker blasted.
“Will you miss us daddy?”
Cara, breaking the silence,
The slight innocence in her voice-
could not hide the fear for the answer.
As he finished getting his gear together,
The boots strapped on,
The hybrid-suit with the -
fabric top and the hard shell hugging his joints.
He held his helmet tight, almost not wanting to put it on,
Knowing it was the last thing he would wear before leaving.


“100% percent.”
Jack remarked.
With a single tear,
streaming down his finely shaven face.


"I will be watching you over the moon."
The girls feeling nervous they
wouldn’t be able to misbehave,
had the biggest angelic face they could give.
Even when their father would be away,
they knew his scorns and lectures would be missing in their days.
they were young and partially unaware of what he was doing,
but they knew his absence was hurting.


BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The alarm ran chills
down his back.
5 minutes left...
5 minutes until his last step on earth.

A goodbye to earth,
A goodbye to his family.


He wanted to stay and
let the river of tears just flow down his face.
The families surrounding him just held on-
to every second as if it were an object and they were trying to hold onto it forever.
This one instant made him want to stop time,
Where he could still see his daughter’s smiles
His wife's face
And the white walls of this building disappear.
This enormous room, seemed small to their future distance.
He could not bear to look
at his daughters as he stepped foot onto
The ramp-

That seemed to have become as far as an airplane runway.
The ramp,
the ramp that would separate him and his daughters.
the ramp that would lead him to home for 9 months.
The ramp that would be the last goodbye.

Waving goodbye,
never seemed so difficult.
He stared at both his daughters,
hoping that he would return
but not ignoring that possibility.
His brave face displayed no worries, but hope.
Hope for his children and family.

In space an Astronaut cannot cry, because there is no gravity, so their tears can’t flow.
Prepare for lift off!