I Write, and Having Written, Move On
I've always been a bit of a dreamer, and my imagination can carry me to dizzying heights it seems. My dad is pretty much the same, perhaps a bit more focused overall.
When he asked me to help him with a bit of an engineering challenge recently, I could not have been more excited! He had been studying a very specific process in nature over the past few years, and he was finally ready to unveil his masterpiece - following a little testing by us first, of course.
I followed him into his workshop to help him drag the contraptions out to the promontory at the edge of our property.
As I looked down at the rocky shore a couple hundred feet below us, I turned and asked him, "How certain are you that these things are going to work?"
His reply?
"Oh, I feel fairly confident in my calculations and design overall!"
[i]Fairly[/i] confident? What started as a crazy idea was now reality, and I trusted this man with my life. Literally.
"Ready?" he asked me.
I looked back and nodded.
He took the plunge first, and as he plummeted, I watched him make adjustments, pulling wires and levers, until he leveled out and was actually soaring over the open water.
[i]Well? Here goes nothing![/i] I thought as I stepped forward and opened my own wings. In an instant, I was soaring, drifting silently and gently through the air. The sensation of the wind in my face was beyond anything I had ever imagined before!!
I made a few adjustments of my own, and quickly closed the distance between my father and myself - I saw him turn to look as I zoomed past him.
"CAREFUL!! Remember what I told you about the delicate nature of the..." he yelled after me, but I only caught the beginning of what he was saying.
What [i]did[/i] he tell me about the wings? Eh, couldn't be that important, or I'm sure I would remember it. No time for such worries, as I'm no longer a mere mortal - I CAN FLY!!!!
Let's see just how high these wings can take us!
When he asked me to help him with a bit of an engineering challenge recently, I could not have been more excited! He had been studying a very specific process in nature over the past few years, and he was finally ready to unveil his masterpiece - following a little testing by us first, of course.
I followed him into his workshop to help him drag the contraptions out to the promontory at the edge of our property.
As I looked down at the rocky shore a couple hundred feet below us, I turned and asked him, "How certain are you that these things are going to work?"
His reply?
"Oh, I feel fairly confident in my calculations and design overall!"
[i]Fairly[/i] confident? What started as a crazy idea was now reality, and I trusted this man with my life. Literally.
"Ready?" he asked me.
I looked back and nodded.
He took the plunge first, and as he plummeted, I watched him make adjustments, pulling wires and levers, until he leveled out and was actually soaring over the open water.
[i]Well? Here goes nothing![/i] I thought as I stepped forward and opened my own wings. In an instant, I was soaring, drifting silently and gently through the air. The sensation of the wind in my face was beyond anything I had ever imagined before!!
I made a few adjustments of my own, and quickly closed the distance between my father and myself - I saw him turn to look as I zoomed past him.
"CAREFUL!! Remember what I told you about the delicate nature of the..." he yelled after me, but I only caught the beginning of what he was saying.
What [i]did[/i] he tell me about the wings? Eh, couldn't be that important, or I'm sure I would remember it. No time for such worries, as I'm no longer a mere mortal - I CAN FLY!!!!
Let's see just how high these wings can take us!
51-55, M
