I just want to wish you a Happy New Year! I hope 2008 was great for you and that 2009 will bring you much joy and happiness!

Hey Rick,
How's it going? I hadn't left you a comment in awhile. I thought about what you said about old and bold pilots. I think it's true to a certain extent. There were some old guys at Dan's funeral who told me about their "barn storming" days and all the stunts they pulled, their point being that they were still alive... But I think they grew out of that nonsense in time.

I did some substitute teaching this week and I'm absolutely exhausted. It seems like I only get on the computer and do this when I'm just too tired to do anything else.

I'm glad I did the substitute work though, and not just for the money. I used to teach, but now I'm studying to be a physical therapist assistant. The last couple of days reminded me that although I love teaching, I just don't have the stamina for it. I can do it part time, but that's it.
I was doing nine hour days at a hospital at my last clinical rotation, with a new patient every half an hour all day, and I wasn't as tired as I am after just six hours with 24 second graders.

I envy you for finding what you wanted to do with your life and being able to do it for many years. It seems like I keep trying to find my place in the world, and here I am at forty back in school again.

I'm so sick of studying, but it was great to make the kids work. I have to give them credit, because it's been 80 degrees every day all week, but they just kept working hard. I had to wonder if my college classmates would have kept their noses to the grindstone that well. If we adults could work as hard to learn new things as kids do we'd be doing amazing things.

Dear Rick,
After I looked more closely, I could tell it was a high wing, so I knew it wasn't one of the RV homebuilts.
Thanks for the great photo. Danny would have loved it. Did you ever go to EAA in Oshkosh? Someone from New Zealand offered to buy Danny's homebuilt while we were there in '91, but he wouldn't sell. In the end it didn't make any difference, because when it's your time, it's just your time.

I remarried a couple of years after Danny's accident. My current husband works for J & M Display doing fireworks shows! But Jeff's different from Danny-- he always believes the safety rules are for everyone. Danny thought he was such a great pilot that the rules didn't apply to him. He forgot that what he was doing could kill him. Jeff never forgets that when handling explosives.

So, do you fly professionally? How long have you been flying? How did you get into it?
Ruth