Wing and a Prayer

September 14, 2015

“Aviation shrinks things,” the pilot explained as I commented on how small everything looked from up there.

My oldest, Camden, and I were on a short flight in a seemingly tiny airplane in an effort to have some fun and to support a missions organization based in our local airport.

That morning as I applied my makeup, Camden had come in the bathroom and pleaded, “I just don’t want to do it.”

“Oh, it’ll be great,” I assured him.

“It’ll be an adventure and we get to do it together. It’ll be a great memory,” I argued.

As we ascended to however many feet you rise to, (a lot!) I decided that in fact, we might not just be making memories, we might become one.

Yikes. “What had I been thinking?” I silently asked myself.

He is a smart child, a very intelligent child in fact. He is a cautious young man who puts a good amount of thought into major decisions. Why hadn’t I listened to my first-born, my dependable, reliable child?!?!

Now I had brought him up into the air against his wishes and my own better judgment.

Yes, aviation does shrink things….my courage and guts were nearly invisible.

I regained my composure towards the end of our adventure. Long enough to take it in and wonder at the vastness of the earth and the size of its creatures.

As we landed, I thanked the Lord above as Camden joyfully announced, “I want to do that again!”

We loaded up the minivan to head home. (Its tires attach to the road which all of a sudden sounded like a very good idea.) I grabbed the camera and looked through the pictures we had taken of the day.

There were Camden and I posed and smiling by the airplane. “Oh, we’re in the shadows,” I remarked disappointedly. I had wanted a great picture to remember our day.