Now where did I put that screw driver?

This week in the news we heard that Heidi Stefanyshyn-Piper, one of the astronauts on the International Space Station, accidentally let her tool bag slip away while she was making a repair on the outside of the space station. I hate when that happens! The photo of this is priceless, actually pretty unreal. I kept thinking about this incident all week and now I'm just going to jot down some thoughts for your ponderation.

1). How can we manage to send people into space for months at a time and plan out each and every element, from oxygen delivery to waste mangaement, food and temperature control, and yet someone couldn't think to attach some velcro to the tool kit?

2) Why is it that the first time a tool kit goes missing it's the girl's fault? I hope she isn't blonde.

3) I think it's hilarious that at the moment the astronaut saw that the tool kit was floating away the NASA ground crew overheard her say "Oh Great!" If you drop your cell phone in a mud puddle it's "Oh Great" if you drop your bagel on the floor it's "Oh Great!" but come on people, if you drop a $100,000 tool kit in space in front of the entire world via satellite? There would have to be a seven second delay for what I would be saying.

Somehow this whole incident serves to make me step back and realize that we can plan our lives, we can set it up and have every detail lined up a certain way, but then life can just come along and BOOM, your tool kit is floating away. I feel that way sometimes when my stress level gets up to DEFCON 5. I feel my coping skills just floating away in space and as I try to slo-mo my way over to get them, they just slip further away. At that point I have learned that the best thing to do is hunker down and wait. Call the cavalry and let them know that there's been an incident and then make a new plan. Usually the waiting brings about renewed ideas and the stamina to implement them. Or, like the astronauts on the International Space Station, someone with their own tool kit can come along and help you.

Now all we have to do is be watchful. If you are walking a beautiful beach some night at sunset and you look up to see something hurling at you at the speed of light, I would say DUCK because a wrench coming full tilt from space is gonna leave a mark.