Growing Up Coastie

As we step into the hangar to reach my husbands office, my son looks up to his daddy with his bright, dark chocolate eyes and stops still, reaches out a hand and won't move another inch until his daddy takes his hand. This is a huge deal for my son. As a fairly new walker (only a few months now) he is very independent. Since he can do it, he must do it alone. It was as if he was simply overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of being surrounded by multiple C130’s (yes, you do remember correctly, my husband flies 60’s, he just works in the C130 hangar), the parts, workers and just the hangar itself – it’s HUGE. Even I sometimes feel as small as an ant in there, like I could be crushed at any moment.

Witnessing his response to the atmosphere got my husband and me talking. Will he always be amazed by the enormity of these surroundings? Will he always be excited to go see daddy at work and see the planes and helos? Or will he get to the point that he takes it for granted? Heaven forbid he grows to not care about it at all, or hate it even. (Yikes, that scares me just thinking about that possibility.)

I hope our kids are always amazed by not only the aircraft, but by their dad and his job. He saves lives and helps keep drugs off of our streets and in doing so, risks his own life. He is a hero, like all of our men and women in uniform. He makes our world a better, safer place.

I know that when our kids are in elementary school and have a field trip to the base, they will be excited to show off their daddy and what he does, but I hope they are just as excited when they are 12. I hope they always feel the thrill of being around the aircraft and are proud to show off their dad. I know I am.