In the quiet bustle of the Spacex headquarters in Hawthorne, California, a fresh morning on Tuesday, March 2024, Elon Musk sat surrounded by the fruits of his tireless ambition. Rockets to Mars rose to their window, and screens full of data of Starship shone before him. Success had given everything: billions, fame and a legacy that covered planets. However, an unexpected email would soon remind you of a past that thought you had left behind.
The matter said:“From someone who met you before the rockets: Justine.”Instantly, Elon was transported back to Pretoria, South Africa, at age 17, walking under purple jacarandás with a girl who believed in her craziest dreams before anyone else. Justine Vinter Murray, his first love, contacted him after 30 years of silence, with a secret that would change everything.
A memory under Jacarandá’s trees
In 1990, Pretoria was a city in transformation, with the rise of Nelson Mandela marking the beginning of the rainbow nation. The young Elon, a skinny teenager obsessed with science and computer science, found comfort in the fresh tranquility of the Public Library of Pretoria. There, at his usual table next to the window, he was sitting Justine, a kind girl and a serene force. Unlike others who made fun of their space dreams and electric cars, Justine listened carefully. “Tell me from Mars,” he said, smiling, while Elon drew reusable rockets in a notebook she had given him.
They spent hours together: Justine helping her with her tasks of Afrikáans, Elon teaching her basic programming in the old library computer. His walks through the Botanical Garden of Pretoria and even the buildings of the Union cemented a link forged by shared dreams. Under the Jacarandás, they shared their first kiss, a moment of pure teenage magic. Justine believed in Elon when he was just a “weird child,” and that belief promoted his determination. But dreams have a price, and Elon’s meant leaving South Africa to go to Canada in 1994 in search of a future at Queen University.
The farewell at Jan Smuts airport was heartbreaking. Justine, with a blue dress, gave him the notebook with a photo of them under the jacarandás. “See you later,” Elon promised, although both knew that the distance could be permanent. While his plane took off, Justine whispered words that he could not hear, a secret that kept his heart while breaking his heart.
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A life built on dreams, a love lost in time
In Canada, and later in the United States, Elon built an empire. Zip2 was sold for millions, PayPal for thousands of millions, and Spacex and Tesla became innovation symbols. However, in his darkest moments, such as when Tesla was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2008, he clung to Justine’s words:“Promise me that you will never stop dreaming.”He often wondered about her, but in the pre-internet era, losing contact was permanent. Unopened returned cards, disconnected telephone numbers. Justine Vinter Murray vanished in the memory, a ghost of a simpler era.
Meanwhile, in Cabo Cabo, Justine worked a quiet life. Master married to William, a kind doctor, Crio two children, Peter and Emma. Emma, 16 in 2024, was an obsessed prodigy with the astrophysics and colonization of Mars, traits that disturbedly remembered a boy who Justine once fell in love. Seeing Spacex’s releases on television, Justine saw Elon’s face and felt the weight of a secret he had saved for decades. When Emma asked about rockets, Justine smiled sadly and whispered for herself: “Just like your father.”
The email that changed everything
On March 12, 2024, Shivon, Elon’s assistant, delivered a printed copy of the email. His hands trembled when reading Justine’s words:“I have been watching your career … there is something that I need to tell you, something that I have taken with me for 30 years.”Memories flooded him: purple flowers, stolen kisses and impossible dreams. That night, he scored his number from Cape and listened to his voice after three decades. They talked for hours, recovering the lost time. Justine revealed that Emma had been accepted at UCLA and her dream of working in Spacex. “There is something about Emma that you should know,” he hinted, insisting that it should be in person.
They were seen on April 16 at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, a place of beauty that remembered its Praetorian walks. Elon arrived early, with the nerves. Seeing Justine – Mayor, with gray hair but the same kind look – and Emma, tall and intense like him at his age, was breathless. Emma’s eyes were his, his curiosity a reflection of his teenage self. They spoke for hours about Mars, rockets and dreams. Emma’s questions impressed Elon; She was a cream engine.
A secret revealed in the gardens
While walking through the Getty Gardens, Justine finally spoke alone with Elon. “Emma is not just my daughter,” he confessed, in tears. “It’s ours.” The world staggered. Elon satly on a bank, assimilating that in October 1994, after going to Canada, Justine discovered that she was pregnant. Alone and scared, without the way to communicate with him, I crio Emma with William, who adopted her as his. “I didn’t tell you because I would like something,” Justine explained. “I told you because you deserve to know, especially with Emma entering your world.”
Elon observed Emma, who drew rocket designs nearby, seeing her own passion reflected in her. “It’s amazing,” he whispered. Justine nodded: “It has your dreams.” They agreed not to tell Emma yet; William was his father in every way. But Elon promised to be part of his life, as a mentor, offering an internship in Spacex and creating the Justine Foundation, a scholarship in honor of his mother to support young dreamers like Emma.
A new promise under the stars
A month later, after Emma’s shocking visit to Spacex, Elon wrote to Justine thanking him for believing in him 30 years ago and for raising his daughter. “Every rocket that I launched carried a little piece of our dreams,” he wrote. “Emma will go to Mars one day, bringing the best of us: your kindness, William’s strength, my tenacity.” He included a photo of him and Emma in Spacex, pointing out a mock of a rocket for Mars, without knowing that one day he would take his generation to the stars.
In Cabo Cabo, Justine read the letter, with tears in his eyes when looking at the photo. Emma called her and chose UCLA to be close to Spacex, excited by the Justine Foundation scholarship. “This is the beginning of everything,” Emma said. Justine smiled: “I love you, more than you will ever know.” Outside, the mountain of the table stood at sunset, but somewhere, the future of Emma dawned: a future that would take her further than any human being, built on a love story that began under the jacarandás and would end between the stars.
This story of Elon, Justine and Emma covers 30 years, intertwining love, loss and dreams in a stronger link than time. It is a reminder that the largest legacies are not only rockets or companies, but the children who take our hopes to new worlds.
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