The Deep End series
This past week, the world watched four astronauts climb into a capsule called Integrity and fly to the Moon and back for the first time in over fifty years. Artemis II splashed down in the Pacific on April 10th, carrying Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen farther from Earth than any crew since Apollo.
It was a big deal. And watching it, I kept thinking about eleven men most people have never heard of — men who quietly helped make all of this possible. I knew the Gallaudet 11 were involved in space experiments. What I didn’t know was just how deep that involvement went — that their work quietly laid the foundation for human spaceflight as we know it. That’s the part that got me.
Look at this image below. Really look at it.
Image Description:Two emaciated South Asian children, sitting in the middle of a busy road in pouring rain. A birthday cake in front of them. Despite their young faces, both have thick beards. One has no hands and only one foot. The other is holding a sign asking for birthday likes.
You're lying in bed, scrolling. Two hours vanish before you even realize it's happening—until suddenly you do. And there it is: the awareness. Your book's still on the nightstand. Your essay's waiting on your laptop. The puzzle's half-finished on the table. The coloring supplies are untouched.
I catch myself here, too. Not in a guilt-spiral way, but in that quiet moment where you realize: this is finite time, and I’m choosing how it goes. That’s when everything shifts. Because it’s not really about doing enough—it’s about whether I’m actually building something that feels like mine.