I'm glad everyone liked this story, even if it took a while to get noticed. While it's enjoying new popularity, I'd like to take the time to point everyone to this thread:
The FIRST Historians Mission
FIRST Historians is a feature I started back in the fall, to highlight personal stories, just like this one. It ran for about 2 months, before I ran out of stories to publish. If you'd like to see this become a recurring feature, again, PM any stories to me for approval, and we'll get them posted. I'm glad to see some interest in this again, as it's a personal favorite project of mine. So, if you have a story you'd like to tell, submit it!