I tend to use a lot of metaphors in what I write. As I have gotten older, everything seems to mean something more if you put your mind to it.
I was reminded of a childhood experience I had when I was about 6 or 7. My great aunt Eva Lou was in California for a week or two. My dad and her had hit off like gangbusters when they first met. He had planned a surprise for her and all of us, and had his pilot friend bring a helicopter to the field next to our house.
The pilot took each and everyone of us up individually and did an air tour of the area around my parents house. I was one of the last ones to go.
He took me up on the helicopter and we flew over the river, Tracy, Manteca, my parents house then went back to land.
It wasn't the fly that stuck in my memory, it was the landing. The pilot let me take control of the helicopter when we were close to the ground and helped me land it. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would have been...
You have to land exactly right or you will have a rough landing. He had me move the plane up and down feet from the ground trying to get it perfect. Every time seemed scary and frustrating to me until finally I landed it just right. It was exhilarating feeling like I was in control of something so big.
It reminds me of the things after that incident that made me feel so small at the time, but once I accomplished them, I felt like I could do anything with my life. It doesn't matter if it is cancer, death, some other illness, or something much more simple than that... It matters that you conquered it and figured out your own way to do things, make things work for you in your own favor...
Think things through and land that plane steady and smooth, or make a rough landing for yourself and hope everything turns out OK...
Life is what you make it... you better make it good... you only get one chance...
