That was great.
"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:aceRd.7229$zH6.6601@attbi_s53...
Today I was able to celebrate my 10-Year anniversary of getting my wings
by flying Mary and friends to a wonderful lunch in Kewanee, IL (at an
amazing furniture store called "Goods"), followed by a full day of
camaraderie and fun.

Best of all, my landing in Kewanee was an absolute greaser, despite high,
gusty winds! (Funny how that never ceases to be a real ego builder...)
In ten years and over 900 hours, I've surprisingly managed to complete an
equal number of take-offs and landings, while simultaneously avoiding any
bent metal or mishaps. Meanwhile, my kids have grown up in the back seat
of an airplane, seeing so many things that they could never have seen from
the ground, and I've had the privilege of owning aircraft since '98.

It's truly been a wondrous decade.

Nothing in my life has been more rewarding than flying. In fact, it's
hard to believe how much aviation has changed my life in this very short
decade. Ten years ago I was a life-time wanna-be pilot, trying to figure
out how to get into the left seat and see what flying was really like. If
anyone had told me that ten years later I would have abandoned my
newspaper career and other businesses -- and could have convinced Mary to
do the same with her medical career -- in order to reap the risky and
always doubtful financial benefits of aviation (by creating an
aviation-theme-suite hotel, of all things!), I surely would have thought
they were daft.

Yet, here I am. Only in America.

I always tell anyone who will listen that my first 35 years on this planet
were utterly wasted, spent on the ground, looking up. Flying truly is
life, ladies and gents, and I'm here to tell you that it's time to get out
and enjoy every minute of it! I'm looking forward to another ten (or
thirty) years of flying, and I'm incredibly honored to have been able to
share the sky with y'all over these last ten years.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"