I was in a large shopping center which we were happy to have found.  In Darwin, Australia you needed a car to get to this place located on the outskirts of town.  My companions were looking for a sports store, and I needed regular clothes, so we parted to go our separate ways in the mall.

Being in a foreign land is disruptive to the psyche for the first few days.  There is something disorienting about the experience, partly due to the time zone change, but mostly due to the many little differences.  I was proud that my driving on the "wrong" side of the roads was going smoothly, in spite of having a rental car with a stick shift - which of course requires the use of the "wrong" arm to do the shifting.

I hadn't noticed any aborigines in the shopping center, which contrasted with the downtown of Darwin.  The ambience was partly Australian and partly "American."  It was somewhat of a relief, as all the demands of our assignment here were exhausting.

We were here for a 6-week study of the atmosphere, using special instruments on NASA's high altitude ER-2 research airplane.  We all had been working "long" days, getting ready for our first flight, which went well the previous day.  And now we had a day off, so we were buying locally what we had forgotten to bring.

I was trying to decide which direction to go for the Woolworth's store I had seen advertized, when suddenly I was startled by a small girl's voice behind me that cried "Daddy!"  I thought it was one of my daughters calling me!

But quickly my sense of place re-established itself, and I realized the voice was someone else's daughter calling to some other Daddy.  Nevertheless, that one sharp moment made my heart pound, and slowly I felt a lump in my throat, and I was overcome with love for my two daughters!

"How wonderful it is to be a Daddy!" I thought.  And how universal that feeling must be.  In every part of the world there are Daddies who must feel that same strong bond to their children.

This made me "homesick," after only one week, and another 5 weeks to go.
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This site opened:  October 30, 1998.   Last Update: November 11, 1998