Air Show!
This was the weekend of the Chicago Air and Water Show. It's an annual event and ground zero is North Avenue Beach. Because I am about 3-4 miles north of this, I just get the big, fast stuff whipping around, getting into position to do their thing right over that beach. The elite flying team of the Navy, the Blue Angels, made a lot of noise going close to my house and there was one other big ass jet that also whizzed close by. How closely they fly in formation is insane and made me realize one thing and remember another.
What I realized is that I don't really much care about it. Maybe if I were closer to the action, I'd care, but standing at my window and seeing planes getting into position to do things that I wouldn't see? Not so much.
What I remembered is a story an old friend told me many years ago. His father was a jet pilot in the Air Force and very good at his job. He spent his entire working life in service to his country and retired from the Air Force. His dad got different assignments when my friend was growing up so he and his sister saw a good deal of the country.
At one assignment, where they were based happened to be where they were having tryouts to be one of the Thunderbirds, the USAF equivalent of the Blue Angels. His dad thought this would be interesting and would really test his mettle as a pilot so he went and tried out. He was invited to come back the next day to do someone more flying. That night he told his wife -- my friend's mom -- that he'd had this tryout, that he'd done really well, that he was going to be going back the next day to do some more flying with them.
Long story short? As my old friend put it, "He told my mom and he never went back."
But, bless her heart, he didn't end up a spot on a street corner, either.
What I realized is that I don't really much care about it. Maybe if I were closer to the action, I'd care, but standing at my window and seeing planes getting into position to do things that I wouldn't see? Not so much.
What I remembered is a story an old friend told me many years ago. His father was a jet pilot in the Air Force and very good at his job. He spent his entire working life in service to his country and retired from the Air Force. His dad got different assignments when my friend was growing up so he and his sister saw a good deal of the country.
At one assignment, where they were based happened to be where they were having tryouts to be one of the Thunderbirds, the USAF equivalent of the Blue Angels. His dad thought this would be interesting and would really test his mettle as a pilot so he went and tried out. He was invited to come back the next day to do someone more flying. That night he told his wife -- my friend's mom -- that he'd had this tryout, that he'd done really well, that he was going to be going back the next day to do some more flying with them.
Long story short? As my old friend put it, "He told my mom and he never went back."
But, bless her heart, he didn't end up a spot on a street corner, either.
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