Day 200:
Well Son, yesterday about sucked all the life clear out of me... For all that went on throughout the day - power outages, bad phone lines, an the hectic and frenetic pace of even the event itself - it took everything I had to get going this morning, Son. As each day passes and I grow just a little bit older, so then does my recovery time. To be sure, your old man has typically been a pretty quick healer and recovery time for me was once measured in hours, not days... Today was a day I'd-a liked to have spent in bed.
Though still, I have to continue to tell myself that it was worth it. It was all worth it! The work, the stress, the benefit as it was happening... Certainly worth it...
When I got up this morning, understanding we have a full house too (see: Previous Entry) I knew I had to get out of the house and get breakfast. I headed to Wegmans in Fairfax to pick up bagels, lox, tomatoes, an onion, some double smoked Virginia ham, and of course, coffee... I'm pretty sure I was in the store for all of 20 minutes. When I came out I thought I may catch fire it was so hot!
"Back to the house..." I thought to myself. "I have to feed these folks and come up with a plan!" My grand plan? See Uncle Scotty and Uncle Bear off on their motorcycles, then pack up the crew and head to the Udvar Hazy Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airtport. Cool things to see, cool temperatures, a great place for little dudes like you and Nathan and Andrew. It was a great way to beat the heat and keep you boys cool...
An interesting factoid about Udvar Hazy, Boy'O...
When I was 17 years old I worked as a Bell Hop for Hyatt hotels. Part of my responsibilities were to run out to Dulles Airport in a Hyatt Crew van to pick up the Continental crews arriving off International flights. On March 6th, 1990 I arrived on the tarmac in my gigantic Ford 350 Econoline van to pick up the crew, the entire tarmac was a parade route! A select 50 people (or so) were sitting in a grand stands in the middle of the runway and they were all looking toward the sky. I got out of the van and asked the Continental pilot what they were looking for! He told me to wait, and to look up... And just as I did I saw a streak rip the sky wide open followed by a series of distant booms and what looked like smoke rings... The clear blue sky cracked as if it were being split by a laser!
Immediately the band started to play and people gave applause and I still didn't eve know what the hell I just saw! A few minutes later the original SR-71 Blackbird came in on approach... To see her land and taxi to our position on the tarmac remains one of the top 5 coolest thing I've ever seen in my life! This bird was massive! Her nose glowing like a radiating electric stove, and as she cooled fluids leaked from all over the aircraft. She was so impressive, Conor. An absolutely amazing aircraft and easily one of my very favorites to this day...
Turns out that old Blackbird was to become the first piece in what is now known as the Udvar Hazy Aerospace museum. Pretty special to have been there..............
As a matter of course, the SR-71 made a flight from the Pacific to the Atlantic in just over 1 hour and 8 minutes at an average speed of 2112 MPH... Impressive indeed.
After a stroll through the museum, me, you, your Mommy, Uncle Paul and Aunt Jen as well as Andrew and Nathan, made our way out for lunch immediately followed by a trip back to the house for the evening... See Son, the Landers power is still out in Falls Church and so we've opened our doors to them, just as they would us were the situation reversed... Because that's what you do for those you love, Conor. You answer the call; as per my previous entries.
That's all for tonight, Conor... I'm wiped out. But I love you, Son. And I loved spending so much time with you today; with everybody in fact... Twas a great day.
I love you-
Dad
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