A grandmother is a mother who has a second chance

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

And a good time was had by almost everyone

Last night the weather was so warm that Ed and I decided to "walk the lake". We have a man-made lake and park about 2 blocks from our house with a well-traveled walking path around it. So, off we went. There were walkers, a couple of people fishing, geese and ducks squawking and pooping, and one guy playing with his remote controlled boat. Which reminded me of another outdoor adventure close to 40 years ago.

A friend of my husband's (the first one) decided he really wanted a remote-controlled airplane. His wife wasn't too keen about the pricetag - $250 - but he bought it anyway. He carefully attached all the decals, read the instructions, gave it a little test run in his yard. Then he invited us to go with them to a park that was a "playground" for remote controlled airplane people.

So we packed a nice picnic lunch, grabbed a blanket and chairs, stocked up on cold drinks, brought a radio, and all climbed into the car. It was about a 20 minute drive but it was Spring in Tucson and the weather was great. As a side note, Spring only lasts about 2 weeks in Tucson before Summer hits so our window was small. Anyway, we found a spot near a tree, but with a large clearing for his plane. We unrolled the blanket, put out the lunch, and got ready for the show.

Our friend wanted to take one test run before we ate so we covered the food and sat back to watch. He went out to the middle of the field, carefully read the instructions again, adjusted the plane, used his shirt tail to wipe off a smudge on one of the wings, looked back at us and smiled proudly, and started the engine. The plane taxied along the grass, then gracefully lifted into the sky. He looked back at us one more time with pride. The plane went higher, flew for about 20 seconds, then took a sharp nose dive and hit the ground at full speed. Plane pieces everywhere. The shiny, smudge-free wing was over by the tree, Our friend just stood there wide-eyed, in shock. Then he began picking up the pieces, putting them back into the box, and headed back to us.

We silently uncovered the lunch, ate quickly, and went back home. I think he took up golf after that.

3 comments:

namaste said...

i was already chuckling when you said he wiped off a smudge with his shirttail and looked back at you guys. by the end of the post i was guffawing. LOL!

great story.

;)

Jenni said...

HA HA HA!!!! That friend wouldn't happen to have been Frank, would it?

Anonymous said...

Poor guy! Oh no! haha
Sandi..thanks for your encouragement :)