kens_cockpit
Well Known Member
Yesterday was Easter Sunday morning and time for the Easter egg treasure hunt at our house. My wife's Easter egg hunt is one of the traditions which our six children enjoy, even the teenagers.
This one is special because our eldest son is completing a couple of days leave with us before heading back to the Australian Defence Force Academy where he is completing his science degree before commencing his pilot training in the RAAF.
After my wife's treasure hunt was completed our two girls, 9 and 11 years, announce another treasure hunt. They explain that they have planted different coloured balloons around the house and yard which must be popped to obtain the clue to the next location and at the end there will be a prize. What beautiful girls; already showing they have taken on their mother's passion for creating happy family memories.
My wife and I have the pink balloons and we head out to the summer house and pop the first balloon which sends us back into the piano. That clue sends us into the study.
My wife puts the pin in the balloon. The bang makes me jump even though I'm expecting it. The little white paper with the clue on it drops out and I pick it up. I read:
"Go to the plane for your next clue"
As we head into the garage, our seventeen year old son comes racing out, off to find his next clue and yells back over his shoulder exactly what I was thinking:
"How many people can have that as a clue? Go to the plane..."
It brought home to me how fortunate I am. My family is the greatest blessing on this earth. But on this Easter Sunday morning, that little clue in the treasure hunt brought home to me the significance of another blessing, albeit one that now feels to be a rather mixed one.
In one of the many times of doubt I have had about this very slow ?quickbuild? project, I received a word from a close friend who said, "Sometimes God gives us the desires of our heart."
Most of the time this project is too big for me. Full time work, exercising regularly, family activities ...life, all interfere with the plane. But really that?s just an excuse. I could make time if I wanted to.
I started enthusiastically about 7 years ago. The empennage was done in a few months. The wings were basically complete a few months later. I would head out to the garage every Saturday night and every Sunday and sometimes during the week. The seats are in, the instruments are in the instrument panel and talking to each other without any smoke. The magnetometer is down the back of the fuselage. All sorts of bits and pieces have been installed. The landing hear has been aligned and drilled and removed again, though not without it?s dramas. And that?s where things have basically stalled for the last 3 or 4 years.
Everything else has taken over. Truth be known I?ve lost the joy of building. When people ask me how the plane is going I usually respond with a sigh of resignation and say ?...slowly....too slowly.? I get home from a day of solving everyone else?s problems and the last thing I want to do is pick up the threads of the last problem I was working on with the plane.
I just want to fly this plane. But I can?t fly it unless I build it. And my wife won?t let me sell the project. I think she knows I have to complete it. Part of the education from the 51% is the character building quality of perseverance.
My youngest children basically don?t remember a time without an aeroplane in the garage and the cars parked outside. I almost can?t remember a time without a plane in the garage. And I think they need to see it completed.
My mind knows that when this aeroplane flys it will be the aircraft of my dreams. But my heart is almost crushed by the enormity of what remains to be done. Still there is a little ember of the fire that was once there. I hope, but not without significant doubt, that it can be fanned into a decent little campfire of progress even if the fuel for the initial conflagration of enthusiasm has been consumed.
Recently I?ve been making a little more time, doing little things...installing the static ports, and some bigger things...tidying up the wiring behind the instrument panel. Who knows, maybe one day...the prize will be obtained. In the meantime, it?s a great place for a pink balloon with a clue in the annual Easter egg treasure hunt.
This one is special because our eldest son is completing a couple of days leave with us before heading back to the Australian Defence Force Academy where he is completing his science degree before commencing his pilot training in the RAAF.
After my wife's treasure hunt was completed our two girls, 9 and 11 years, announce another treasure hunt. They explain that they have planted different coloured balloons around the house and yard which must be popped to obtain the clue to the next location and at the end there will be a prize. What beautiful girls; already showing they have taken on their mother's passion for creating happy family memories.
My wife and I have the pink balloons and we head out to the summer house and pop the first balloon which sends us back into the piano. That clue sends us into the study.
My wife puts the pin in the balloon. The bang makes me jump even though I'm expecting it. The little white paper with the clue on it drops out and I pick it up. I read:
"Go to the plane for your next clue"
As we head into the garage, our seventeen year old son comes racing out, off to find his next clue and yells back over his shoulder exactly what I was thinking:
"How many people can have that as a clue? Go to the plane..."
It brought home to me how fortunate I am. My family is the greatest blessing on this earth. But on this Easter Sunday morning, that little clue in the treasure hunt brought home to me the significance of another blessing, albeit one that now feels to be a rather mixed one.
In one of the many times of doubt I have had about this very slow ?quickbuild? project, I received a word from a close friend who said, "Sometimes God gives us the desires of our heart."
Most of the time this project is too big for me. Full time work, exercising regularly, family activities ...life, all interfere with the plane. But really that?s just an excuse. I could make time if I wanted to.
I started enthusiastically about 7 years ago. The empennage was done in a few months. The wings were basically complete a few months later. I would head out to the garage every Saturday night and every Sunday and sometimes during the week. The seats are in, the instruments are in the instrument panel and talking to each other without any smoke. The magnetometer is down the back of the fuselage. All sorts of bits and pieces have been installed. The landing hear has been aligned and drilled and removed again, though not without it?s dramas. And that?s where things have basically stalled for the last 3 or 4 years.
Everything else has taken over. Truth be known I?ve lost the joy of building. When people ask me how the plane is going I usually respond with a sigh of resignation and say ?...slowly....too slowly.? I get home from a day of solving everyone else?s problems and the last thing I want to do is pick up the threads of the last problem I was working on with the plane.
I just want to fly this plane. But I can?t fly it unless I build it. And my wife won?t let me sell the project. I think she knows I have to complete it. Part of the education from the 51% is the character building quality of perseverance.
My youngest children basically don?t remember a time without an aeroplane in the garage and the cars parked outside. I almost can?t remember a time without a plane in the garage. And I think they need to see it completed.
My mind knows that when this aeroplane flys it will be the aircraft of my dreams. But my heart is almost crushed by the enormity of what remains to be done. Still there is a little ember of the fire that was once there. I hope, but not without significant doubt, that it can be fanned into a decent little campfire of progress even if the fuel for the initial conflagration of enthusiasm has been consumed.
Recently I?ve been making a little more time, doing little things...installing the static ports, and some bigger things...tidying up the wiring behind the instrument panel. Who knows, maybe one day...the prize will be obtained. In the meantime, it?s a great place for a pink balloon with a clue in the annual Easter egg treasure hunt.