To The Moon And Back (ft. General Kevin Chilton, NASA Astronaut)

**Transcript is Auto-Generated**

00:00:00:12 - 00:00:22:11
Matthew Krekeler
Welcome to Girl Dad Nation. In this episode, I welcome General Kevin Chilton, a retired 4-Star General of the U.S. Air Force and NASA astronaut on three space shuttle flights. He serves in leadership roles in many organizations, and together with his wife Cathy (also a General in the Air Force) have raised four daughters. Let's get to it.

00:00:24:05 - 00:00:29:01
Matthew Krekeler
Girl Dad Nation.

00:00:31:22 - 00:00:34:13
Matthew Krekeler
Kevin, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for being here.

00:00:34:21 - 00:00:36:17
Kevin Chilton
It's great to join you, Matthew. Good morning.

00:00:37:15 - 00:01:06:04
Matthew Krekeler
Good morning. So, yeah, I first had the pleasure of meeting you when you came to the Augustine Institute. And, yeah, you're featured in our series The Search, which is an amazing series. And you share your story of taking the Holy Eucharist into space. And yeah, you've had an amazing journey throughout the years. You've you've been to space three times, if I recall.

00:01:06:17 - 00:01:07:14
Kevin Chilton
Yes, that's right.

00:01:08:00 - 00:01:10:08
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. And then you also have four daughters.

00:01:11:07 - 00:01:11:16
Kevin Chilton
Right.

00:01:11:22 - 00:01:21:06
Matthew Krekeler
Which is amazing. So first, I just want to want to ask. Yeah. What was that moment like when you first found out you're going to be a dad?

00:01:22:22 - 00:01:47:22
Kevin Chilton
Oh, thrilling, exciting and frightening, I think, all together, which is actually it's kind of like launching in a spaceship. Yeah. You know, it's all of the above. I mean, there's that. You're just so well. And the day our oldest daughter was born, Madison, you know, I held her in my arms the first time was to witness the miracle of birth and then to hold her in my arms the first time.

00:01:49:04 - 00:02:15:01
Kevin Chilton
And the same. I say the same for all four daughters. So that was the best moments of my life. I mean, I'll never forget them. It that feeling pretty indescribable. And I tell my children that it's the love that I have for them as the closest thing to humanly possible. And I think for the love God has for me, because it's totally unconditional.

00:02:15:16 - 00:02:29:17
Kevin Chilton
And that's I think that's pretty unique between parents and children is the unconditional love we feel for our children. And I certainly felt that way and feel that way about my four daughters. But yeah, being a dad.

00:02:29:17 - 00:02:30:12
Matthew Krekeler
Was absolutely.

00:02:30:17 - 00:02:52:21
Kevin Chilton
It was a bit scary too. I'll never forget, you know, when we when it came time to leave the hospital with our first daughter and Kathy was, you know, being wheeled out, as they always do in a wheelchair. And she's holding Madison in her arms. And we get to the door, the nurses with us. And, you know, I brought the car around and and the nurses standing there and she says, well, bye bye.

00:02:53:03 - 00:03:18:04
Kevin Chilton
And I kind of looked at her like, not coming with cancer. Yeah, we're on our own. And that with that, you know, cold water moment where they think, you know, golly, this is a huge responsibility. And there's no book that's been written that tells you all that you're going to experience over the next the rest of your life, actually, as a parent.

00:03:19:02 - 00:03:19:13
Kevin Chilton
Yeah.

00:03:20:08 - 00:03:32:22
Matthew Krekeler
And yeah, just tell me kind of the timeline of like you being an astronaut going to space and then when you had your first daughter, had you already been on a mission before?

00:03:33:00 - 00:04:06:07
Kevin Chilton
Yeah. So my I was I was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1987, and Kathy and I married in 1988. And then our first daughter was born in 1989. And I didn't I flew my first mission in 1992, shortly after our second daughter was born. So I flew my first flight. Madison was a little over two and Mary Kate was let's see, Mary was born in February, so she'd been a couple, three couple, three months old to the first.

00:04:07:01 - 00:04:07:09
Kevin Chilton
Yeah.

00:04:08:02 - 00:04:23:01
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. Well, and I like how you described preparing for like bringing your daughter home from the hospital, kind of like preparing for launch and stuff like that. Do you think you were more prepared for for bringing your daughter home than you were for going to space?

00:04:23:20 - 00:04:52:02
Kevin Chilton
Far more prepared for going to space and a rigorous training program for that went on for over a year. That was very detailed. And, you know, you know, I'm reminded of something my father said to me once, and it was kind of out of the blue, and it was when I was a man ground. And he he looked at me and he said, you know, it said Kevlar was really you know, I was the oldest.

00:04:52:04 - 00:05:23:17
Kevin Chilton
So there was really no book to tell me how to be your father when you were born. And and in a way, I think he was for some reason that I don't think was valid, kind of apologizing for not being perfect and I thought he was just a fantastic father. I mean, I was so blessed in so many ways by him in my dad.

00:05:23:17 - 00:05:42:09
Kevin Chilton
But I think we, all of us as parents, to have this little thing inside ourselves that we know we're never going to be perfect. So we try our best and and I'll never forget that that moment he said that for me, you know, and I think, you know, I said something back like, I love you, Dad. You know, you were a great dad.

00:05:42:16 - 00:06:04:10
Kevin Chilton
And and I'm but if for some reason he felt compelled to say that to me and I understand it now, I understand why he said that now. Because, yeah, as a parent, I feel like, you know, I could always have been better. And you never stop being a parent. Can you prove?

00:06:04:10 - 00:06:27:23
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, I think we we put a lot of pressure on ourselves sometimes and we compare ourselves to others a lot. And I think there's a healthy aspect to that. Like we we want to be the best fathers we can be. But also just knowing that like our kids rely on us and and love us, that unconditional love, like you said, to like like they they just want you to be present and yeah.

00:06:27:23 - 00:06:34:02
Matthew Krekeler
Just want you to to just keep trying and, and doing everything you can. So I think that's kind of the most important part.

00:06:34:16 - 00:06:56:23
Kevin Chilton
Mm hmm. Yeah, I couldn't agree more, Matthew. Yeah. Now, what you hear about being present, the bit about being present, you know, as often as you can. You know, we all. We all have to work. Yeah, unless. Well, not everybody, I guess, but 99.9% of us have the work to put food on the table and a roof over our family's heads, the clothes on their back.

00:06:57:16 - 00:07:36:01
Kevin Chilton
And and so we just the fact that we do that means we miss a lot of things. Yeah. And special moments or things that they wish we could have been there for but couldn't. Yeah. And, and so, you know, that's one of the things I've always tried to do is when I could be present, to be present and to to understand the difference between what I really had to get done and what I could work, if you will, and what I could put off to another time so I could be with my children when they were awake or when they were doing sports or whatever it is they were doing.

00:07:37:13 - 00:07:37:21
Kevin Chilton
Yeah.

00:07:38:15 - 00:08:03:20
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. When you talk about like a lot of people go on work trips and it's really hard to kind of balance that time, you have the necessity of like going someplace for your job or whatever, and then but also when you're home, like making the most out of that time. But what was that like for you? Like going on a work trip for you mean not to just just be like to another state, but you're like leaving the planet.

00:08:03:20 - 00:08:12:06
Matthew Krekeler
So how do you how do you prepare for that kind of trip? What did you tell your wife or your daughters? What was that mental process for you?

00:08:12:23 - 00:08:39:22
Kevin Chilton
Yeah, well, in many ways, you know, relatively speaking, for my peers, I was married late in life. I was almost 34 and Kathy Kathy was 29. So, you know, most people in our age, in our generation were married younger. So we started having children later in life. And so when I flew in space, you know, the first time, as I mentioned, you know, Madison was two, two and a half and Mary was three months.

00:08:40:10 - 00:09:06:03
Kevin Chilton
The next time I flew was later we had another baby. And so and she was also six months old or so when I flew. And on my last flight, Kathy was pregnant with our fourth daughter. And so that the children were two, four and six. And at that age, you know, at that age, they're not they don't really understand.

00:09:06:14 - 00:09:32:22
Kevin Chilton
They know Dad's an astronaut. But, you know, all our friends are astronauts and all their kids, they played with their parents for astronaut or at least one of them was. And so to them, this was all normal. Yeah. The bigger stress was on my wife, you know. Yeah. And you know, I tell people the astronauts aren't heroes. None of us feel that way.

00:09:34:07 - 00:09:56:07
Kevin Chilton
But my wife's a hero. Oh, yeah. The, my on my third flight, you know, she's got a 64 year old, two year old in her hands, friends, her whole world, actually, and she's eight months pregnant. And I'm sitting on top of £4 million of high explosive, you know, you know, who's the hero in this picture? Because I was were exactly where I wanted to be.

00:09:56:07 - 00:10:32:08
Kevin Chilton
And she was having to watch this and know and this challenger, you know, she and Kathy as an engineer, flight test engineer for the Air Force, I'm sure she better than most spouses understood the the actual risks that we took flying a shuttle. So, you know, it was not so hard on our children. And I'll tell you a story about one of my crewmates as children that were a little older and his daughter was in school.

00:10:33:09 - 00:10:56:13
Kevin Chilton
And, you know, she was in elementary school. But when he was getting to make his first flight, one of the other children at school told her that her dad was going to blow up because they had seen Challenger and she was as a child that was a lot older than her. And that was traumatic for this poor little child.

00:10:56:16 - 00:11:05:16
Kevin Chilton
Yeah, fortunately, my children never had to experience that. No. So that was a good thing.

00:11:06:19 - 00:11:40:12
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, it's a great risk and I think it takes a tremendous amount of faith to like every time, even just leaving the country when I'm traveling and stuff like yeah, I try to make the most out of those little moments because it's like you expect to return and you don't, you don't want to like think any other ways, but, but also like just knowing, like if there's that possibility, like everything that you say and do, like matters and what you want to leave with your family.

00:11:41:14 - 00:11:47:08
Kevin Chilton
Yeah, I think it's the last moments before you leave are important. Yeah. So important.

00:11:47:12 - 00:11:48:18
Matthew Krekeler
Was there anything specific.

00:11:49:05 - 00:11:50:04
Kevin Chilton
To be the last.

00:11:50:09 - 00:12:01:17
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. Yeah, well and yeah. You never hope that it is. Or is there, is there anything you remember specifically saying, kind of like last words before you went on a trip like that?

00:12:02:21 - 00:12:27:10
Kevin Chilton
I'll just say that I love you. I love you, and try to make it for the children at that age just to make everything as normal as possible, not to make a big deal out of it, you know, and sing them a bedtime. Songs that I sing them every night and and kiss them and say goodbye and say, I'll see you in a week or ten days or two weeks, whatever it was going to be.

00:12:27:10 - 00:12:35:08
Kevin Chilton
Yeah. You don't want any fear in their hearts. Yeah. You keep that to yourself. Yeah.

00:12:36:02 - 00:13:01:09
Matthew Krekeler
I think that's good too. Just to to be that example of like being brave and like, you know, you sometimes are faced with difficult things or scary things. And my daughters are really young now, but even like those, those little things, like we went to the pool the other day and my daughter doesn't know how to swim just yet, but and they have this little froggy slide in the shallow end and all that kind of stuff.

00:13:01:09 - 00:13:21:08
Matthew Krekeler
But but she was so afraid to go down the slide, even though she was just watching all these other kids go down the slide. And you could tell she really wanted to do that and and just encouraging her, like, okay. Like not pressuring. So she went down on her own time. It took about an hour of being at the pool and just watching all the other kids before she finally went down the slide.

00:13:21:08 - 00:13:41:01
Matthew Krekeler
She would go up the stairs and then walk down and she'd get mad about a dozen times. But then she finally went down the side and she loved it to the point that we couldn't leave. She was just like going in circles up and down the slide and had to like physically pick her up. And she she started crying.

00:13:41:01 - 00:14:24:07
Matthew Krekeler
She wanted to stay so bad. But I think about those kind of moments just in fatherhood where like, we want to prepare them the best we can. We want to make it as safe as possible. But at a certain point, like, everything has risks and you kind of have to let them go and do it for themselves. But also, I just I'm so proud of my daughter, both of my daughters, but my three year old who went down the slide, just like when you see them accomplish that and, you know, they overcome those fears and and then just seeing the confidence that they then have and then being so proud of themselves, it's just it's

00:14:24:07 - 00:14:25:13
Matthew Krekeler
such a wonderful thing to see.

00:14:26:05 - 00:14:34:03
Kevin Chilton
I agree. And thanks for sharing that story, Matthew, because it brings back some memories for me, too, is what has your daughter learned to ride a two wheeler yet?

00:14:35:10 - 00:14:39:09
Matthew Krekeler
So she's got yeah, she has one of those what's called like a strider bike.

00:14:40:17 - 00:14:42:07
Kevin Chilton
I mean a real bike with.

00:14:42:09 - 00:14:44:07
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, yeah. Not with pedals yet.

00:14:44:19 - 00:14:46:08
Kevin Chilton
Well you'll have that same experience.

00:14:46:08 - 00:14:47:09
Matthew Krekeler
Getting close to.

00:14:47:23 - 00:15:02:17
Kevin Chilton
Your experience at all over again, multiple time children that, that time when you give them that last little push and off they go by themselves. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for reminding me of how wonderful those moments are.

00:15:04:16 - 00:15:08:23
Matthew Krekeler
And yes, just remind me, how old are your four daughters now?

00:15:10:00 - 00:15:15:19
Kevin Chilton
Let's see. They are 26, 28, 30 and 32. Okay, cool.

00:15:16:05 - 00:15:29:02
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. And that is so yeah. Now you have that new experience, like them leaving the nest and everything as well. Yeah. What, what were those kinds of challenges kind of at that stage.

00:15:29:13 - 00:15:52:07
Kevin Chilton
I it, I don't know if this is a common dynamic, but in our house I think, you know, every time one of my daughters went off to college and they all went, yeah, you know, away from home and went to colleges, that they couldn't commute from home. It was a boo hoo moment for me and I hated it and I hated them going away.

00:15:52:07 - 00:16:22:07
Kevin Chilton
But, you know, nature has a wonderful way of preparing you for that moment. It certainly my wife, I would say I wasn't prepared, but definitely was ready for them to go off to college when they did and then when they came back from college. Now they do. They come visit. It's just bliss, you know? It's just great. You mean that transition where they go from being teenagers to adults and just because you turn 20 doesn't mean you're not a teenager anymore mentally?

00:16:23:01 - 00:16:56:00
Kevin Chilton
Yeah, I think some would argue I'm still suffering from that, waiting to mature out of my teenage years. But yeah, you know, and every child is different and it's just, it's, it's just such a blessing to be able to, to watch them go from, you know, an infant to a child, a toddler, watching them learn and then watching them form their own opinions and that and and become their own selves, you know, their own unique person.

00:16:56:00 - 00:17:17:20
Kevin Chilton
And and they all four of them are very unique and different, thank God. That's a blessing. And yet, you know, you love them equally and unconditionally. So anyway, back to your question now. Yeah. So I was always sad when I was tossed to college. I didn't think it at all. Like I say, a boo hoo moment for me, wiping the tears.

00:17:19:15 - 00:17:19:23
Kevin Chilton
Yeah.

00:17:21:00 - 00:17:32:00
Matthew Krekeler
And then yeah. And I want to give you another opportunity. Just any particular proud moment being a father, like in all the years, like watching them grow up.

00:17:32:00 - 00:17:57:10
Kevin Chilton
Oh, you know, one thing my father always stressed to me growing up, which I loved, was, you know, he he didn't care if I was the best at something, you know, whether I was all star baseball, little league baseball team or, you know, if I had straight A's in school. So all he cared about is, is that I tried my best at whatever I did.

00:17:58:03 - 00:18:30:07
Kevin Chilton
He was a big believer in I can leave any job you take. Leave it better when you leave than when it was when you came in. Yeah, work hard. And so just watching and I try to imbue that in my daughters as well that an attitude that you know just because you're not the best person on the team songs you're out there trying your hardest same in school I'm going to be proud of you and and all four of them were that way.

00:18:30:07 - 00:18:53:13
Kevin Chilton
And it was fun to see them pick themselves up. You know, particularly in sports, when I got knocked down or didn't go right and to see them shake it off and and and keep going and not quit, you know, I think that perseverance, when you see that in your children, you see them persevere through what are difficult times for them at the moment, which may be absolutely trivial and the grander scheme.

00:18:53:13 - 00:19:04:05
Kevin Chilton
But for them, they're not trivial at the time. And and you either see them get through that or you help them get through that moment. That's that's a good moment.

00:19:05:19 - 00:19:31:20
Matthew Krekeler
That's great. Also. Yeah, just kind of going back to being a good role model, demonstrating those things, picking yourself back up when you fail so that they they learn to do the same. I also just. Yeah. Want to ask about your wife Cathy too, in that role and responsibility. And she's also a general in the Air Force, which yeah, I just think is awesome.

00:19:31:20 - 00:19:57:11
Matthew Krekeler
My wife works, she's a working mom and it's sometimes very difficult when both parents have work responsibilities and stuff like that. But I also think it's really cool to that. My daughters get to see my wife go and work and serve in the way that she is called. So, yeah. What are your thoughts on your wife as well, raising your daughters in that kind of way?

00:19:57:11 - 00:20:17:06
Kevin Chilton
Well, she's she's amazing. I mean, because I was gone a lot. And and she she did most of the she did all the hard work for the day. Don't get the kids ready for school every morning, getting them out the door, driving them to school, picking them up after school, done all that. And we were blessed in a couple of ways.

00:20:17:06 - 00:20:35:23
Kevin Chilton
One, I did have times that when I was an astronaut, Nasr, where I had a little bit better control of my schedule when I wasn't particularly, I should say, specifically training for a flight. Yeah, I did have a little better control over my schedule. I could help out a little more at home when I when she needed to be gone.

00:20:36:03 - 00:21:00:01
Kevin Chilton
We were also very blessed by a family that could come and help her parents. And my parents love to come out and see their grandkids, of course. And yeah, oftentimes time in those visits when Cathy had to be on duty. So there and then lastly, you know, we met on active duty. She was active duty officer, but there were no active duty assignments in Houston that she could get.

00:21:00:01 - 00:21:33:23
Kevin Chilton
So she separated from the regular Air Force, the active and transitioned to cruise and the reserve. Her service in the reserve allowed her the flexibility to be essentially a stay at home mom, except when she gone. And yeah, she used to call those Cathy appreciation weeks when she would be gone because I would a line if grandparents couldn't come to town I would take my vacation and be at home and do the things that she did every day for either a weekend or a two week period.

00:21:33:23 - 00:21:36:01
Kevin Chilton
And it was absolutely was.

00:21:36:01 - 00:21:36:17
Matthew Krekeler
Cathy Yeah.

00:21:38:07 - 00:22:01:00
Kevin Chilton
I don't know how she did it. He just kept it all together, particularly with, you know, four little ones running around the house at the different ages. But now she's she's my hero. And, and, and she was able to balance being a mom and and her professional career now. And she'll tell you the same thing that I'll tell you right now.

00:22:01:01 - 00:22:18:19
Kevin Chilton
You're never perfectly balanced in balance. But but I'd say she was more so than I am being a bit because she was in the reserves, but also because the church just had to get done and she was the one doing it. Yeah.

00:22:19:12 - 00:22:42:22
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. It's it's amazing. You just you have to make it work like you're you're always a full time parent and, and then yeah, when you also work full time, it's like, yeah, you do try to just do the best you can. But I am so appreciative of my wife in all the ways that she shoulders so much of the responsibility around the kids and everything like that.

00:22:43:10 - 00:23:14:08
Matthew Krekeler
But I've also had a dad on the podcast. He has a podcast called the Solo Dad Podcast, and he started it after his wife passed away. And yeah, he shares just about like doing everything just as a solo dad and I'm just so grateful that my wife and I are a team in this. But yeah, everyone has a different story, a different journey, and you just have to make the best out of what you've been given.

00:23:14:09 - 00:23:41:21
Kevin Chilton
So yeah, I have my dearest one of my dearest friends. We've been together since first grade all through school, at least through high school, and we're still in close touch now. He lost his wife when he had aa2 year old, a five year old and a seven year old. And he did it on his own. And he's an amazing, amazing guy.

00:23:41:21 - 00:24:10:22
Kevin Chilton
And and raising his children are all up and out of the house, too, and making their own way in life now and and then he has since remarried after they were after he got them up and gone in his lady now and started a new chapter in his life. But I can't it's it's even hard for me today to imagine what that was like for him to he had to do that on his own and work and support the family.

00:24:10:22 - 00:24:13:23
Kevin Chilton
Something else? Yeah.

00:24:14:21 - 00:24:26:18
Matthew Krekeler
Any other words of wisdom that you would give to two dads or also just in particular dads of daughters to me, because raising daughters is kind of a unique challenge as well.

00:24:27:17 - 00:24:49:07
Kevin Chilton
Well, you know, I don't know if I have any wisdom to share, but I do have some scar tissue that should share. I think and I've heard people say this and I think it's true of me when my daughters have a problem or they bring a problem to me and there's something they want to talk about, I immediately go into fix it.

00:24:50:06 - 00:25:35:08
Kevin Chilton
So how can I fix this problem for you or give you advice on how to fix it? And more often than not, that's not what they want. They just want you. They just want you to maybe empathize, maybe. Maybe not even that but sympathize, but just listen. And then I'd say probably the best advice I could give is when you feel that urge to give them the answer to their problem, what you think the answer is may not be, yeah, bite your tongue or count to ten and listen a little longer and let let them finished talking and then you'll know better what to do.

00:25:35:19 - 00:25:41:03
Kevin Chilton
And sometimes all you need to do is give them a hug and assure them that everything's going to be.

00:25:43:12 - 00:26:05:04
Kevin Chilton
But that's boy, I've made the mistake. I continue to make mistakes. Yeah. So be a good listener first. Not to say, you know, you know, not say you're totally discount in helping them solve their problems, but lead with listening. That would be my advice.

00:26:05:20 - 00:26:37:21
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah, I think that's great advice. I think to like having having girls has taught me a certain amount of Yeah. Just like gentleness and like the way that, that I kind of approach problems. And I love that too, that my daughters have this sweetness and they'll come up and ask me things and stuff and like maybe the way that I approach the situation is a little bit less in the you like get it done kind of manner in fact like you're saying.

00:26:37:21 - 00:26:55:05
Matthew Krekeler
But just like really listening and being present to to what they're they're actually asking and more of the relationship aspect of it that it's like, Oh, they really want someone to be there with them through the problem versus just like, here's the quick fix kind of thing.

00:26:55:05 - 00:27:20:06
Kevin Chilton
Like, like hurry up and get it. Get up there and get down that slide. Yeah. Patiently waited until she was ready. Yeah. Right. And your earlier story. So, yeah, I'm no expert on fatherhood, that's for sure. You know, I'm practicing at it still. Yeah. And I certainly have no experience on being a father son, so I can't compare and contrast.

00:27:20:21 - 00:27:30:18
Kevin Chilton
I can just say that I just feel so blessed to have four daughters. I love them to death and I can't imagine life without them. My life without them.

00:27:32:10 - 00:27:55:13
Matthew Krekeler
That's awesome. And I love hearing you say that to you, that you you love being a dad of daughters, too, since I think even like we're expecting our third and there's sometimes some pressure like, oh, are you trying for a son? Or like this sort of societal expectation that like, I'm disappointed to not have a son yet or something like that, but I love having my daughters.

00:27:56:03 - 00:28:12:14
Matthew Krekeler
And not that I wouldn't welcome a son, but but yeah, I don't I don't feel like I'm lacking anything in that. Like I love being a dad. And what I've what I've been blessed with is girls. And so I've just totally embraced that.

00:28:13:07 - 00:28:40:12
Kevin Chilton
Yeah. No, I felt. Well, you know, to be honest, I was hoping our first child would be a boy, only because I'm the oldest in our family and among my siblings. And my next sibling was a girl. And I always felt, you know, being a big brother, taking care of my little sister, part of my duty. But that that feeling that, you know, I wanted a son, it vanished immediately the moment I held Madison in my arms.

00:28:40:12 - 00:29:04:00
Kevin Chilton
I mean, I never thought about it again, you know, it's just and, you know, I guess about the time our fourth daughter was born, I remember I was in the delivery room, said to the doctor, Hey, doc, you don't even need to roll this one over. I know what I make and and I might that if we had ten girls that have been happy, just as happy as I am, you know, so I know it.

00:29:05:13 - 00:29:16:19
Kevin Chilton
Yeah. That, that feeling that I had before our first daughter was born disappeared immediately when she was born. And I just. I'm grateful for all four of them. Yeah.

00:29:17:15 - 00:29:33:22
Matthew Krekeler
That's wonderful. And I love the line, too, from the search. When you compare looking down at the earth from space and and that same age and wonder when you held your first daughter in your arms. I just love that line. I think it's such a beautiful image.

00:29:34:11 - 00:30:01:16
Kevin Chilton
Yeah. It's it's the closest thing I can come to when people say, well, what did it feel like? That I can say that's what it felt like. Just this incredible gift you've been given and that and you feel humbled by it at the same time and awestruck. And yeah, I mean, I no, I'm running out of adjectives there, you know, just just inside the closest feeling, you know?

00:30:02:13 - 00:30:02:18
Kevin Chilton
Yeah.

00:30:03:09 - 00:30:36:02
Matthew Krekeler
I think it's cool to just most of us won't have that opportunity, that experience, to go to space and to to look at the world and everything from that vantage point and just see the beauty like you got to experience in space. But so many of us have been blessed with that opportunity to be called the fatherhood and and just this wonderful, incredible gift to bring this life into the world that like, it's so amazing.

00:30:36:02 - 00:30:44:22
Matthew Krekeler
I'm like, I am so unworthy of this, this gift and this responsibility. And yet I'm so grateful for that as well.

00:30:46:00 - 00:30:46:17
Kevin Chilton
We're lucky, man.

00:30:46:17 - 00:31:03:10
Matthew Krekeler
Matthew, now I have one last question and I ask all of my guests this. Yeah. What's one thing that you would tell your daughters directly if they were listening to this right now? Yeah. What words would you would you leave with them?

00:31:04:09 - 00:31:26:00
Kevin Chilton
You know, I'd tell them what I've told them all along. I love you to the moon and back. That's what I mean. My love for them is unconditional. I always want to remind them of that.

00:31:26:00 - 00:31:33:15
Matthew Krekeler
So beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing. Yeah, this has been so wonderful. Thank you so much for your time.

00:31:34:16 - 00:31:51:23
Kevin Chilton
It's been great to spend time with you and it was nice before the podcast or the video started. It was nice to meet your your oldest daughter. She's the she's a doll. It brings back memories of my that age. I'm often asked in my career and when people ask me, what do you do? You miss flying. You miss being an astronaut.

00:31:52:16 - 00:32:10:03
Kevin Chilton
Do you miss being a fighter pilot? You know, do you miss this, that or the other? I said, I really don't. And I think I'm kind of wired to look forward, not back, except in one area. I miss having my little girls at home. Yeah.

00:32:10:03 - 00:32:22:22
Matthew Krekeler
Yeah. Well, I love hearing stories like yours, and and I just appreciate so much more like the time that I have now with them. And I just want to hold on to it as much as I can. So.

00:32:23:10 - 00:32:23:17
Kevin Chilton
Yeah.

00:32:24:00 - 00:32:25:02
Matthew Krekeler
It goes by fast.

00:32:26:06 - 00:32:37:15
Kevin Chilton
Too fast.

00:32:39:09 - 00:32:58:23
Matthew Krekeler
Thank you to General Kevin Chilton for sharing his journey and being part of Girl Dad Nation. Check out the links in the description for more of his story. For all of the dads out there on this planet or in space, and there are times where I've been spaced out. This is a reminder for you and to me that we must treasure this time with our kids.

00:32:59:06 - 00:33:23:06
Matthew Krekeler
Celebrate the little things and lead by listening. That's actually a great segue to thank you all for listening to this podcast. If you've enjoyed these stories, please share the show with a friend. Girl Dad Nation is on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. You can also email me at girldadnationpodcast@gmail.com There is no greater joy than being a dad.

00:33:23:06 - 00:33:26:23
Matthew Krekeler
And for my daughters listening. I love you to the moon and back.