Father's Day

My dad and I used to pass time on the weekends at a local RC club. I would watch him and many other guys who enjoyed flying balsa wood contraptions with noisy, smelly engines for hours on end.  I remember the smell of the nitro fuel, the planes exploding into millions of tiny pieces in the fields and people yelling "dead stick!"

I remember my dad had a huge work table he built in the garage that he could fold up and down.  After my father suffered a bad accident, I remember him spending a lot of time in the garage piecing together a kit plane.  Plans sprawled out, trips to the hobby shop.  My grandfather would come over and they would talk about the plans, the engine, what each of them would do different from one another and why.  I'm pretty sure none of this made sense to me but I would hover around the table, ask questions, glue my fingers together.

I now live 650 miles away from my dad, Connecticut and Ohio.  I am however, lucky enough to live near an RC club.  I ride my bike passed it all the time and I go to watch the bug-like planes speed around the sky dodging one another by what seems like inches.  The smells, the sounds, and the people all put me closer to my dad than I thought I could be.  I cherish those moments.

I love you, Dad!

Happy Father's Day to all that apply.