Having our plane down for maintenance for a month is a stark realization that your wings are clipped. General Aviation is a mindset that we had to wrap our heads around and we’re thankful for the friends who encouraged us to step into the the arena of flight.
I am a dreamer, I like goal setting and write them onto my “Magic Whiteboard” with the goals that I create. I really do think it’s magical. Richard is amazed over and over when what goes on the “Magic Whiteboard” becomes reality. My friend Sharon calls it my “direct connect”
Looking back, since listening to my first Bryan Tracy audio cassette that my dad loaned me in 1997, has brought many unexpected miracles into my life. Simply by creating our intentions, God often answers them. Sometimes He surprises me by answering unspoken prayers. He’s a good mind reader.
This week while I was re-organizing the guest room, I was hanging up the trail map to Wolf Creek ski resort, in awe that we have a second home in the Colorado mountains. 
I started folding up the old 2015 LA sectional map that was hanging on the wall and remembered 9 years ago, walking into Aircraft Spruce on a goal setting adventure that was on a molecular level. Richard’s parents very generously provided me with some money to buy him a Christmas gift, and his father’s Aviation history as an Air Force Pilot inspired me on a goal setting adventure.
On a whim, I found myself looking through all the displays and found a log book, a Pilot’s Guide to California Airports, a Pilot’s Guide to Southwestern Airports, sectional maps for the local area and a “Remove Before Flight” keychain. In sum, it was my uneducated attempt at pilot gear.
Little did I ever imagine, our friend Dan would offer a February Mooney flight to Richard and our son Jarom to see if Jarom would be comfortable with flying to Bear Lake in a small plane with them. That pivotal event would lead to a Memorial Day discovery flight for Richard.
Before the next Christmas arrived Richard had his pilot’s license and we had purchased our plane.
Now, instead of Aircraft Spruce we simply call it ‘Spruce’. I know that Logbooks are kept online, sectional maps expire so we have a Stratux installed and a tablet for those, and what he really needed was a FAR/AIM book and “Remove Before Flight” is an item on the checklist, not a keychain.
All these years later, I find myself flying commercial to see the Grandkids this week. As I sit in a commercial plane, next to a stranger, it may be Summer Solstice, but I am grateful for the Winter Solstice dreams that came true. As our son Austin often exclaims “God is good!”
