Canada's 29th Governor General, Julie Payette, was sworn in yesterday. If someone's reading this from outside Canada and wondering what a Governor General is, she's the Queen's official representative in Canada. (More details
here if you're interested.) This is always a big occasion, with lots of pomp and ceremony, but our family is especially interested this time because we had a small but memorable encounter with Julie many years ago that is a special memory for us. I thought today was a good day to share it here.
When our daughter Carolyn
was little she was enthralled with outer space. It started when she
would draw the common sort of childhood crayon pictures containing
houses and trees and a sun up in the sky. She started asking us what
else could put in the sky and we suggested clouds or the moon
and she demanded even more ideas. So David started telling her about
stars and planets and she was fascinated. In no time at all she
could list all nine planets (yes, Pluto was a planet back then!) in
their correct order going out from the sun. She devoured all of the
astronomy books in the children's section of the library. She could
tell you which planet had rings and which had the big red spot and
which ones had moons and all sorts of other fun facts. And she told
everyone that she was going to be an astronaut someday.
When Carolyn was 6 or 7,
there was big news: Julie Payette, a real-live astronaut, was going
to visit Queen's University and her visit would include a talk for
the general public. We marked it on our calendar and waited with
great anticipation. David graciously allowed me to be the parental escort and he stayed home with Valerie and Ian, who were not old enough to appreciate the event. Carolyn put on her favorite dress and we arrived
quite early to make sure we got good seats. As it happened, we were
some of the first people there and had our choice of seats in the
large hall. Carolyn decided she wanted to sit in the very first row
to make sure she wouldn't have any tall grown-ups in front of her, so
we ended up right under Julie's nose as she spoke.
Julie was cute and funny
and informative and a truly wonderful speaker. She told us a lot
about the space program and also about her history and how she came
to be an astronaut. She was inspirational and interesting and also a
lot of fun. She showed us beautiful pictures of space and the space
shuttle. She talked about learning to fly a plane. And especially
for the children in the audience, she told us how you go to the
bathroom in space. (The key point was “there are some things you
DO NOT want floating around in zero gravity!”) She managed to be
very informative and still quite cool and accessible to a small
space-struck child.
At the end of the talk,
Julie invited questions. Carolyn's little hand went up in the air
and Julie actually called on her. Carolyn's question was “what do
you do with trash in the Space Shuttle?”. The answer was that some
of it is packed up to take back to earth and some is dropped out into
space to burn up as it re-enters the atmosphere. Carolyn was
delighted.
When the talk was over,
Julie stood at the side of the big room and chatted with people and
signed autographs. I wanted to take Carolyn over to meet her, but
the crowd and the noise was too much for her. It was a pretty
overwhelming experience for a small child. But she came home happy,
with a memory to last all her life.
But the story isn't quite over. The next day David was
working hard in his office in the Computing department and heard a
bit of a commotion down the hall. Someone walked by and said “Julie
Payette is in the lounge!”. Julie is an engineer and had given a
talk for the Electrical Engineering department in the adjoining
building, and had wandered over to visit with the Computing people
too. David went to the lounge and saw that she was chatting happily
with profs and students and autographing photos for them. He waited
his turn and then said “Could you sign a picture for my little
daughter Carolyn? She heard you speak last night and she wants to be
an astronaut.” Julie smiled and said “did she sit way up in
front? She asked a very good question.” She signed a picture and
wrote “For Carolyn, may all your dreams come true. Ad Astra!”
When David arrived home
that night Carolyn was absolutely thrilled with her surprise. We found a
frame for that special picture and it hung in her room until the day
she moved out of our house as a young adult. I think she has it in
her apartment now. Her encounter with a real astronaut remains a
very special memory – for her and also for me.
Carolyn didn't end up
being an astronaut, but she has had great success in a different kind
of scientific career. She also writes speculative fiction on the
side, some of it involving space travel. She will be launching her
first book later this month. Ad Astra, Carolyn! And thank you,
Julie!
