Musings at Altitude

In my personal life, I’ve had magical moments as well.  I remember clearly that night in April of 1977 when I was shaking nervously before finally asking that beautiful 14 year old girl if she wanted to go out with me.  I was 16, and I actually didn’t ask her if she wanted to go out with me, but instead, I asked her if she wanted to go out with her sister and her boyfriend (now her husband).  And oh by the way, I’d come along too!  We ended up seeing the movie “Silver Streak” and as folks so often say, the rest is history.  That first date was magical, and we’ve been dating ever since!

Speaking of history, shortly after I overcame my fears and asked her out, I started the process of applying for the Air Force Academy.  Things were going perfectly until I got that dreaded letter in the mail, “we regret to inform you…”  I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, especially a 17 year old boy whose dream since 12 was to go to the Air Force Academy.  As fate would have it, my dentist was actually on the Naval Academy medical evaluation board and he read the reject letter and wrote a rebuttal to the Air Force Academy stating that my overbite (can you believe I was rejected for an overbite?) wasn’t bad at all and he had me on special exercises to mitigate the problem.  Lo and behold, a few months later I received that very special call from then Representative Trent Lott that I had indeed been accepted for admission to the Academy.  That was a very magical moment!

Harry Chapin has a song called “Taxi”, and one specific part of the song says this:

You see, she was gonna be an actress,

And I was gonna learn to fly.

She took off to find the footlights,

And I took off to find the sky.

Harry Chapin is one of the notable non-graduates of the Air Force Academy, and the words in his song are autobiographical of sorts.  Like Harry, I too went off to the Academy (not to fly though – bad eyes) and the separation was painful on that beautiful young lady and me.  We split up 4 different times between that first date and our marriage almost 6 years later, 2 of those times while I was at the Academy and the last time during my senior year.  As I entered the final semester, I received my first choice in career fields and ended up going right back to my home town for technical school upon graduation.  When I got home, I asked that very same girl if she could help me retrieve my shipment of personal property from the movers, and she willingly agreed.  While we were driving to the movers, Chicago’s “Hard to Say I’m Sorry” came on the radio, and she cried and I smiled because I knew in that magical moment, all was forgiven and forgotten on both sides and 6 short months later we were married.

More magic occurred less than 3 years later when our daughter arrived and then again less than 3 years after that when our son arrived.  With “one of each” and a “4-pack” as a family, we decided we wanted a full house instead of two pair in the home and we focused once again on family expansion.  But this time the magic turned to heartache as our daughter died in the womb and we flooded Southern California with our tears.  And though the tears were still fresh, the magic returned with the birth of our now 14 year old a couple years later.

In between each of these events, we had magical events in our lives – an unexpected job opportunity with an unexpected move; new acquaintances that have become life long friends; change of duty assignments that took us back to the church that we loved; vacations to memorable places with magical moments; and the birthdays, graduations, marriages, and now grandchildren.

As I look back on my personal life today, I smile in thinking about those magical moments that were filled with blessings beyond belief.  Certainly, we’ve had our share of pain and tragedy, but the tears were soon replaced with smiles and the smiles were the result of so many magical moments in our lives.

I’m on a new quest for more of that magic today.  And I’m also now on a quest to create magic in others’ lives as well.

More to follow.