Inspiration

What inspires you? The people in my daily life are all inspired by different things such as: Classic Celicas, light and color, music and performance art, literature, friendship, laughter, and journalism. I am inspired by my family and all of the things that ignite their individual passions. We are truly a diverse group and that makes us strong. We all share a curiosity for life and everything in it and that makes me proud. I know that there will be lifetimes of rich experiences for each of us along the way as long as we are willing to experience new things and learn from the world around us.

Saturday I woke up blissfully happy because it was the first weekend in a long time that I didn't have to drive kids all over the state and I was perfectly content. I had great plans to work in my gardens and spend the day soaking up the sun as I enjoyed the fresh air. So I was a little dismayed when my husband called me and told me that he just could not bear the thought of missing the first day of the air show at HAFB and he hoped that I would share his enthusiasm and leap at the chance to go with him. There was no leaping. However, I did suck it up and agree to go because although airplanes are not my thing, Bill definitely is and I would not pass up an opportunity to spend an afternoon with him.

The short version of the day's events would be that traffic sucked, the crowds sucked, standing on the tarmac while bending backwards to get a visual of the planes performing stunts overhead..sucked. Was the misery worth it? Maybe. It took us 90 minutes to get there, 2 hours to get home (and we live less than 4 miles from the base!) and one of those final hours was spent standing on an overcrowded bus that was not moving at all. I was overjoyed when the bus driver said frankly, "Folks, I can promise you that it will be much faster if you get off the bus and walk to your vehicles. The South Gate is about a half mile from here." I could not depart that bus fast enough! We were all tired and the grand plan of having a BBQ was abandoned for simply doing whatever was fastest once we got home.

Now before anyone starts thinking that everything about that afternoon was negative, let me tell you that the Thunderbirds were OH SO VERY COOL! Something about seeing those ultra shiny, red white and blue planes screaming past us while Neil Diamond's America plays over the loudspeakers gave me chills. And then they queued up the Top Gun music and I felt so patriotic that I almost wanted to enlist. Between the pilot's stunts, I noticed that everyone around us had the same grin and everyone held their cameras ready so they would not miss a single fabulous picture opportunity. At one point, four planes flew past us in such a tight formation that we were astonished and everyone turned to watch them fly away... that was the exact moment when the solo pilot, with full afterburners blazing, came from behind and scared the bejeezus out of all the spectators who had their backs turned. I remember digging my nails into Bill's shoulders and screaming in his ear as I ducked to avoid the noise.. but Bill will tell you that he heard nothing. The Thunderbird jet was so loud that not even my death screams could be heard over the roar. I was not the only one who was terrified and then laughing hysterically.. the whole crowd was laughing because we had all been duped and it was great fun! After an hour of their high speed, breathtaking aerial stunts, the Thunderbirds finished with a stunt that created a huge firework visual out of smoke, to the music of God Bless America. It was inspirational, to say the very least.

Because of the airshow on Saturday, and the torrential downpour on Sunday, I didn't get to work in the gardens at all and I miss it. Hopefully my blog next weekend will be all about how the girls and I got too much sun on our skin and dirt under our nails but had a great time nonetheless... in the gardens!