et elle est arrivée

One day in 1999, as a fourth grader reading Time, I thought, "They're going to complete the International Space Station in 2008? But that's such a long time away! That's forever!"

But even as a nine-year-old, I knew there was a sense of inevitability to it. It is a strange feeling, to know something unimaginable is going to be inevitable -- sort of like the college applications I am still finishing.

And so it has come.

The ISS is still rather far from complete, though.