We all got to take an hour of time out of savings this weekend.

I suppose I am putting it to use and I’m happy to wake up more rested. But when I try to redeem that hour to increase it, the bar is very high.

Across the table from me—sitting one seat over in the truck—my girl is using every minute on the hardest schoolwork she can find to chase down her goals. Not a single complaint as she works and reworks the physics problems that want to defeat her.

She has the high school experience that I never did, and she’s chasing it down like she has a machete in her teeth.

I’m support staff, not competition. And yet I feel shame that I pursue my goals with a fraction of her intensity.

Last Friday, SpaceX launched the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space force base. It went up during the day, otherwise I could have seen it from my yard. The burn it takes to reach velocity to leave the planet’s atmosphere lights the sky for more than a hundred miles.

My daughter knows the score, and is pushing as hard as she can at this start of her launch. She’s been at it for longer than I remember. It’s been a while since I cheered to see her walk across the room independently.

She wrestles with physics and I am relieved I don’t have to learn it. On the ride to school I tell her about how I struggled with statistics in college and was so relieved with the C on my transcript.

She likes the story.

I drive back home, coasting downhill. There are things I have to do today, and still I could coast past most of them. It would matter. Who would know?

The atmosphere of my personal launch is behind me. I can remember it.

And I’ve done big things since.

I said it, I’m coasting. I made the effort to achieve momentum. I could do it again.

Seeing my child gather herself together for one of her very first lift off is nostalgic and a re-run

Am I ready to bite the machete again? Maybe I can put it in the holder and check out the map first. I’ll get moving with a little more preparation.

NOTE: last week’s offering inspired a few reponses. Thank you! I love to hear from my readers.