Saturday started out as a normal day. Max and I went off to breakfast with my father-in-law. It was bright and sunny but with some hazy skies. We didn’t notice this at first. It was only after we finished eating that it was brought to our attention.
You see, we eat at a small diner at the local airport. That day we discovered that a small flying company was giving free airplane rides. And of course Max and I couldn’t pass this up. After we signed up we were informed as soon as the haze burnt off we would be going on our trip.
We both love to fly so we weren’t too upset about that. Nope, I’m wrong, Max doesn’t have much patience. Constantly for the next hour I kept hearing:
“When are we going up?”
“You tell me Max.”
“When the sky turns blue?”
“Yes, that’s when we’ll go.”
But then he threw a “monkey wrench” into the plan:
“Daddy, can I fly alone this time? I mean just me and the pilot?”
“Um, I guess so.”
Does this mean my boy is growing up? We have always done these things together. It reminded me about a story a friend told me just recently. He said that when he was young he and his Dad would take a walk after dinner together. They didn’t always say anything; it was just a time to be together.
When he was 14 he was standing on the corner with his friends when Dad came up and asked if he wanted to take a walk. He said no; he just wanted to hang. But as his Dad walked away my friend saw his face fall and he realized then that this was a very important time for Dad.
And it’s the same for me. I don’t want to lose the time I get to spend with Max. This is the part I hate about him growing up.
Anyway, we still had to wait so my father-in-law decided that since he wasn’t going to fly he would be in the car. One of the pilots suggested he give us a tour of his plane, a small 4 seater, to pass the time. He showed Max the controls and went going the preflight checklist with him. I think if my boy could have concentrated enough he might have learned something but his mind was racing all over the place with excitement.
After the tour we still had to wait. And of course any function like this would not be complete without selling hats and tee shirts. Max discovered several things he wanted to buy. I got to practice my “No” muscle.
“No.”
“No”
“No”
And on and on. He got so upset at one point he walked back to the car; deciding he really didn’t want to fly if he couldn’t buy anything. But of course when I started it he immediately got out and went back to wait for his ride.
Finally after an hour the haze had burned off enough so that the planes could take off. A pilot was assigned to Max and off they went. As they went through the gate Max looked at me and spoke to the pilot.
The pilot turned to me and said, “You are the father?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Max says he wants you to fly with us but I only have a two seater. But you can take a tour of the plane.”
Big disappointment for me as I wrote earlier but at least my boy could feel like he was getting older…Dad wasn’t hanging around as he did these adult things.
It was a nice plane even though the cockpit was tiny! It could barely fit two people; the seats looked like they were squeezed together. The pilot loaded Max in and strapped him down. Then they were off; I stood at the fence staring up at the sky. Like any dad I suppose, I worried about my boy being somewhere up there where I wouldn’t be able to protect him.
It seemed like hours before they returned; an excited boy telling me about flying over the Atlantic Ocean, through the clouds, and over buildings. And a smiling pilot commented that Max had actually flown the plane.
But with my boy’s buying addiction it was only moments before he started asking to buy again, the flight forgotten. And even more upset as my “No” muscle kicked in again.
This was the morning of our upside down day. My boy aviator finally had his feet on the ground. Everything was back to normal.
Or so we thought.
Our upside down day afternoon got even wilder.
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