“Good Luck, Mr. Gorsky!”
The story seemed implausible, but it came from a trustworthy source — the psychology professor at a highly regarded seminary. He told our seminar class it came from his son who heard it straight from the horse’s mouth. It became even more believable to me years later while driving to work through the beautiful Ko‘olau mountains of Honolulu when it was told by a radio talk-show host. Convincingly, it contained the exact details as when I first heard it. A few months ago it was told with those same details at an office luncheon to which Mimi and I were invited — told by my high school friend and classmate recently retired from over 50 years with NASA. He said the story is true. As he told it he showed us a photo of just the two of them — himself and the story’s author, Neil Armstrong, posing together. Here’s Armstrong’s story:
Armstrong’s family moved from town to town in his dad’s work for the state of Ohio. In one town their yard was the ball-field for Neil and the other kids in the neighborhood. Mr. and Mrs. Gorsky lived next door barely in range of a well hit ball. One day Neil chased a ball that had rolled right up under the Gorsky’s bedroom window. As Neil bent over to pick the ball up he clearly heard, through the open window, the Gorskys conversing loudly. Though he didn’t at that moment fully understand Mrs. Gorsky’s assertive words he never forgot them: “I’ll have sex when that little kid next door walks on the moon!” On Monday, July 21,1969, not long after uttering his legendary words as he stepped onto the surface of the moon — words heard by a half billion people — Neil Armstrong uttered some other words heard only by himself: “Good luck, Mr. Gorsky!” I love this story. I really can’t fathom all the reasons why but here are three.
Attitude
Sex is a fact of life and our attitude towards it can have a huge bearing on our own sexual health as well as that of our children’s and/or that of others whom we may influence. There are two extremes that I think can be unhealthy. Ironically and unfortunately, both attitudes are often fostered by religious institutions. One, that sex is so sacrosanct that there is no venue pure enough to handle a discussion concerning it. This can be dangerous — as dangerous as letting a 16-year-old who’s had zero driving instructions to be given the keys to the family car. The second extreme is the opposite but the results can be just as disastrous. That’s the attitude that sex is dirty. In our book, we quote from the magazine Us Weekly in its interviews with Hollywood personalities you would know if you saw their names: “ [religious] training made me ashamed of my body.” “I had lots of talks about how sex was evil.” Armstrong’s story is not a dirty joke. It’s not about lust. It’s about something very human amidst the give and take of life; amidst the simplicity and complexity of it. It broaches the presence of the elephant in the room while taking away all fear of it being there. Though the story needs to be told with propriety it promotes a healthy, pleasant attitude toward sex.
Authentic
Armstrong’s story, while being entertaining is also instructive — I having first heard it from a professor in a classroom. It’s a real story with a real truth. All of us married folks have met Mrs. Gorsky in some shape or form. If not in your spouse or in your mirror, you’ve met her in a book or an article on marriage. The words “little” Neil heard that day might even cause many to feel normal. Here’s another quote from our book: In consultation with many marriages… the majority of wives think sex is only for the husband to enjoy and for the wife to endure. For many wives it’s sort of like doing the laundry although not quite as exciting. Our Eros chapter attempts to reverse that sentiment. Here are Mimi’s words from that chapter: It turns out women are capable of a greater appetite for sex than men, but it has to be cultivated in a marriage — often over a long period of time… Sex has been a fun area of marriage for us and still is — after more than 60 years!
Amazing
Out of seven billion people on earth Mrs. Gorsky picked one and nailed it — the first person to ever walk on the moon. You could say she was prophetic. Quite the opposite. She was trying to tag the least likely person in the whole world who would do it. What an amazing story! And to boot, young Neil just happened to be in the exact correct spot for the three seconds it took Mrs. Gorsky to voice her manifesto. It seems this has to be a God-thing. In fact, the month when the pastoral staff of First Prez Honolulu shared in preaching sermons on marriage, my title was the title of this blog, Good Luck, Mr. Glorsky! I love the background of Armstrong’s story — the stars, the moon and all. I think this story was partly back of the plaque I bought at Hobby Lobby and gave Mimi. It sits on her dresser: I LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK.
