My brain has always been full of flying dreams.
When I was a child, the Gemini and Apollo launches usually took place around
my birthday and I felt they were done for me. I loved the thought of the
adventure those men were having and wanted to be an astronaut and have
adventures.
In high school, they offered ground school as an elective. When I went up
in a Cessna I couldn't find the adventure.
I had a little problem with authority in my teens and didn't pursue the
astronaut dream because of the route through the military.
Out of college, I took up SCUBA. Gliding out over a carribean wall that
dropped off into the blue felt like flying.
My wife sent me to a glider field as a birthday present and I was hooked.
The challenge, the freedom, and having an adventure every weekend are what
keep me coming back.
At my first contest, on three consecutive days I set personal bests for the
farthest and the fastest I'd ever flown.

The challenge, freedom, adventure, and the opportunity to associate with
and learn from some of the best people on the planet, doing what we all
love, is what soaring's all about for me.

(sometimes we're a--holes on RAS, but that doesn't count)

Brent

"m pautz" wrote in message
news:5MTib.557995$Oz4.510730@rwcrnsc54...
"Deftly they opened the brain of a child and it was full of
flying dreams" Stanley Kunitz. (Kunitz was the U.S. poet Laureate
2000-2001)