May 27

[migrated from myspace blog]

I had to cancel a flight with another instructor's student today for weather. Visibility was 7 miles at the time, but the ceiling was about 700-foot overcast. So instead of going flying, I...went flying. In the clouds. I never got much "actual" instrument time since I did most of my flight training in the southwest U.S., but today I chalked up a full hour in the clouds. It still amazes me when we start to see the ground through the clouds, then about a hundred lower see the runway RIGHT in front of the plane. Thanks May 27, for crappy weather that turned out perfect for flying in the clouds.

I'm not sure why I'm writing about this (and it'll be the last time), but this date just glares at me from the calendar. 2 years ago, May 27 was on a Saturday. My "wife" had flown to Phoenix the day before to help pack up the apartment for my move back, and to celebrate my birthday and our anniversary, both of which were the previous weekend. We never made it to dinner. Somewhere around 2 or 3 in the afternoon we took a break from packing and sat down to rest. Through a unique set of circumstances (involving her Treo phone having saved the last web page she visited, which just happened to be her work email account, and an email from her boss ending with "I love you"), that Saturday turned out to be one which has affected, directly or indirectly, every day since in my life. I guess it's appropriate that this 24-month mark be my last comment on it, since that's exactly the length of time she'll be making payments. But no matter how "moved-on" I can be, May 27 will always look a little darker on the calendar than other dates and leave a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.