She had planned to say something.
Something grand and monumental to mark the moment, just as her predecessor had done before her so long ago.
She had it all worked out in her mind.
The words were there. On the tip of her tongue. She had rehearsed it a hundred times on the way there. Playing it over and over again in her mind to get it just right.
She had planned to say something special.
Instead the world watched as Riley fell silent, staring out into the barren landscape before her, a single tear falling unseen behind her helmet.
In the following months she would be asked a dozen and more times in interviews to describe what had passed through her mind in that moment.
Every time she would struggle to put it into words.
Struggle to articulate what she barely understood.
She had expected to feel exited.
To feel the elation and accomplishment of a lifelong dream come true.
She had expected to feel frightened.
Standing with nothing but a suit between her and the never-ending expanse of stars above.
She had expected to feel lonely.
Expected to look out into the depths of space and feel every inch of distance between her and the world below.
And she did.
She felt overjoyed at being one of the honoured few to have made this, the greatest of all journeys. She felt the sadness and wonder for one heart-wrenching moment of being the only pair of feet upon that distant rock. She felt the fear of knowing she was further away from home than she had ever been before and it was a long way back.
A dozen or more times she said as much.
Told the reporters all about the amazement, the pride, the terror, the joy.
What she didn't say….what she couldn't say…was the feeling that accompanied all that.
The feeling that there on that lonely rock so far away she felt a presence, like a warm hand holding hers, guiding her forward as she took that first step.
Like an old friend she could barely remember.
Who knew she was coming and had been waiting there all along.
Ready to welcome her to the moon.