Planes and Water Bombers

It was all they wanted to talk about. They could talk about Water Bombers all day, if someone would. Grandpa used to fly RF-4's and F-111's and knew all kinds of things about jets and planes. He could talk about them all day long, if someone would. Theirs was a very satisfying arrangement. Simbiotic, really. 

So one day, after a very gratifying session of youtube Water Bombers with Grandpa, Mommy and Daddy said we could all go to the opening night of Planes, the film. PLANES?! No pronouncement could have been met with more excitement. So many wonderful things had happened already on this trip north! - friends had reconnected, ponies were ridden, the river had been floated down.. could anything better be even possible? But it was.

There would be seven of us, and it was arranged that Grandma would go early to the theater to purchase tickets before the hordes. She would battle her way and be first in line. Grandma always liked to be first in line. But as she approached the theater no crowds materialized. She stood there alone, under her purple umbrella, and waited.

"Grandma, why do you always carry a purple umbrella?" the small girl had one day asked. Grandma said that lots of people had asked her that question. People seemed surprised by a purple umbrella meandering all over the place for miles each day. The people of this sweet woodland town were becoming accustomed to it, but they often wondered if Grandma was expecting rain, or something. "No," she would reply. "I'm expecting the SUN."

Now, she stood outside in the sun waiting for the crowds, which were strangely missing.

No one was there when the theater opened for business. No one was there when Grandma happily purchased seven tickets. No one was there when she walked in to 'grab up' her seats. She sat. She read. She could be patient.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/roomurdock/3359773450/

Suddenly there were the sounds of six wonderful people (whom she loved) coming in. "Grandma! You got such good seats!" Haha! Yes, and there were a lot to choose from.

Soon the lights dimmed and popcorn was munched. Mommy and daddy were on one end of the row, Grandma and Grandpa on the other. The children sat in between. At one point, mommy glanced down the row and noticed that all three children were sitting on, and around, Grandpa...eyes on the screen, but crammed all around him. Grandma, too, but mostly? - their Water Bomber hero, Grandpa.

The four of them sat, entertained and fascinated by what had always fascinated them. It didn't matter that these were talking Planes, and therefore not 'real'. I know of one 7 year old who had stars in his eyes just thinking of piloting one of those beauties. Yep. He could do it. He could strap himself in, set the dials, and roar forth.

He was only in second grade. But he could be patient.


See you along they way!
the SconeLady


photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/roomurdock/3359773450/">Rory Murdock</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">cc</a>