Christina A. Koch

My parents are in their mid-70s, and they’ve begun the arduous task of cleaning out their five-bedroom house. My brothers and I have taken the toys and books that meant the most to us and given them to our kids. Now, adult items are being passed on to us. When my dad’s maternal grandmother, Hertha, died in 1989, and the items in her home were split among relatives, my dad took an Art Deco floor lamp.

My college friend, Heather, recently came to Omaha with her family so we could spend our mutual Spring Breaks together. As newer residents, my husband, daughter and I have done our fair share of exploring but I was grateful for another opportunity to be a tourist in my town. I had not yet visited the Durham Museum, which was on Heather’s kids’ list of things to do.

I spent the early part of April looking at the moon and watching news reports about Artemis II, the nine-day lunar flyby that set the record for human-distance from Earth—252,756 miles. The historic mission was crewed by the first person of color, first woman, first non-U.S. citizen and the oldest person to travel beyond low-Earth orbit.