my dad

While I may have missed Fathers Day by a few weeks, I’d like to take a moment to discuss my dad – he’s one of the greatest dads I know, and he deserves a little discussing. Mainly, I’d like to discuss what I do when I fly on planes, and I’d like to relate it directly to my father, who taught me everything I know. It starts when I’m allowed to select my seat. Dad, do you know where I always sit? Of course you do, same place you would if you could. Window seat above the wing. Why? So I can look out and see the wing work as we take off and land. The intricacies of the flaps and rudders still amaze me, and seeing the air rush over the aerodynamically optimized structure as we zoom in for landing, well – let’s just say I know all a girl should know about the Bernoulli Principle of lift. But, my fascination goes further than that. While waiting at the gate I check out for the size of the plane as it approaches the jetway, I watch as the various carts fill it with gas, food, load the luggage. Of course, as I board the plane I always check out whatever I can see of the cockpit. As we live in a post 9/11 world it becomes impossible to ask to SEE the cockpit, but sometimes you can get a glimpse of all those controls. Millions of controls. Heck, I even check out all the flight attendants storage spaces – where the carts go, the coffee pots, their purses. Everything has a space, everything has a function (or three), it’s amazing. As we pull away from the gate I’m aware of the little truck that’s pushing the plane (because these big things can not maneuver in reverse themselves), I’m watching the grounds crew as they signal which way the plane should go. I wait to feel the landing gear raise and lower. As we come in for landing, I understand all the various banks and rolls and speed changes that happen. It’s these details that my dad and I used to pay attention to and talk about when we flew. And, I still do. And I know, whenever he flies, these are the things my dad is looking at and thinking about too! Given that I've taken a total of 10 flights in the last 2 weeks, I've really noticed this fascination of mine.

While in Cairns last week I was lucky enough to get on to a boat tour where we boarded a sailing vessel and headed out to the reef. If planes make me think of my dad, boats certainly make me remember every summer I ever had. My family had a 30 foot Pearson sailboat, Pax, for about as long as I can remember – supposedly our first sailboat was a 24(am I close?) sailboat, Windward, but I was quite young when they got rid of that one. I think I remember it’s blue and red plaid cushions, but perhaps only from a picture. It’s Pax that I can still see if I close my eyes tight enough. She was teal, and had teal and grey cushions inside. The red table folded up and out of sight when we were underway, and the stairs were removable and revealed the shiny red engine underneath. While on the boat in Cairns, Falla, I couldn’t help but remember all the wonderful trips we took while I was growing up. And of course – all of the nautical information that was still in my head. Dad, do they drive on the left side of the channel in thiat part of the world too? I’d imagine so. When we were pulling back up to the dock at the end of the day, Skipper Doug was having a bit of trouble. It was very windy, and it kept blowing us out of the slip. He backed on out and tried a second time. One other man on board, who clearly knew a thing or two about boats, was along the port side ready to help. I noticed him there, so I said to him quietly “Hey, Fred, if you jump off with the spring line, just throw me the stern line quick and I’ll get it back there.” Literally, these words just came out of my mouth without much thought. Fred looked up at me, quite shocked I must say, and was unsure of what to do. Much to my dismay, and that of young looking females everywhere, Fred jumped off with the spring line and quickly threw the stern line up to an already busy Skipper Doug. I guess I can’t blame him, who am I to think that they’d have faith in me to know what to do with anything when it came to a boat. But, I know – and my dad does too – that I could have caught that stern line, and even could have tied it to a cleat.

Thanks Dad, all those times you sat me down to teach me about ridiculously useless things (like units conversion), well…maybe you knew what you were talking about.