Life Goes On...

Yesterday, my dad called me "bright and early" (which is way too early) in the morning, and long before I normally wake up, so I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, and groggily groaned a hello saying, "(lots of throat clearing) urmm... huh? yeahm?"

He blurts out without any introduction, "I called the guy, he can go today, want to come with me?"

I squeeze my eyes close and moan before replying, "What guy?"

"The Airplane Guy," is his not so-illuminating reply.

Slowly my brain shifts out of neutral as some blood starts to pump into the attic, and I become aware of my surroundings... Hmmm.. sometime during the night I traded ends on the sofa - no wonder I was so disoriented.

The Airplane Guy - Oh yeah... you see, way back in November of last year, the family got together and arranged for a "test drive" of an airplane he would like to buy and fly, but won't, as a Christmas gift. Now that's what you give a guy that has everything!

It's a lightweight sports model - apparently you only need a driver's license and a couple hours of training to fly one. The airplanes in this category are limited in size, how much they can carry, and how fast they can go.

So anyway, he's been waiting since Christmas for the day he got his ride - and yesterday was the big day.

So after I got out of sofa and showered, I called my Dad back and said, "I'm awake now, and yes, I'll come watch you take your flight. Are you sure the weather is okay?" My dad replies, "I didn't ask."

So I ended up calling "The Airplane Guy" (he has a real name - really!) and he said, "Hmmm.. the forecast looks good - why don't you come to the field this afternoon - say one o'clock?"


My dad and I pulled into the gate at the airfield at 1:00 PM sharp (I like being punctual) and at 1:01 PM sharp - it started to rain - and not just a light rain, a cats and dogs downpour.


So we decided to wait a little bit and see if the storm would blow off - and while we waited, we got a free tour of several nearby hangers and looked at (but did not touch) a bunch of shiny airplanes.

Eventually, the skies cleared - [begin sarcasm font]I was so glad I called[end sarcasm font].


...and my Dad folded himself up and into the seat...


...and off he went with "The Airplane Guy". They took off and flew right over my head before disappearing out of sight for nearly an hour.


...at long last they returned - and my dad's grin was from ear to ear.


So life goes on -

- and now I will find some time to write some "Thank You" notes - to mail to some incredibly thoughtful people. I look at these sympathy cards I received and then look at that picture of my dad with his thumbs up and that huge smile...

...and I know things are going to be okay.