I miss you Gma

Heritage Flight 1
Originally uploaded by blue.shark

I drink my coffee cold. It's a habit since I was a child. I know this sounds odd, but I remember lazy mornings when I was visiting my grandparents, my grandma would always drink her coffee until the dregs of it were cold. She would wrinkle her nose and set that little coffee mug down.

Usually she would sit at the little table in her motor home drinking her coffee and I would sit in the drivers seat. These mornings were something I will remember forever with her. She seemed so relaxed as I would imagine getting ready to drive her wherever she wanted to go. Naturally though, with that motor home facing my grandfather's garden, she would ask me how we were going to get there without running it over.

My response was always the same. It was as sure as the changing of the seasons. In fact, my entire childhood was about flying. I used to have such dreams about being able to fly wherever I wanted to go. I would point out to her, as I took her for her flights, all the features of my hometown I could think of.

Later, when working on forest fires, I used to adore rides in a helicopter. It was much like those times with my grandmother and I quickly started to dream of becoming a pilot. This dream, like many of Mr. Darling's dreams that have to be put away for now. Someday, I will fly.

But back to the coffee. When fire fighting, I worked sixteen hour shifts and I remember for the first time in my life, really understanding what sleep deprivation really was. I was tired constantly and with no days off, I had to cope somehow.

I learned in my camp, the difference between good coffee and bad coffee. I learned that once you pour enough cream in it to kill the bitterness, coffee becomes one of the best things in the world. And each time, I drink it really slow, finding it more enjoyable as it gets colder.

Every time I finished flying grandma around, she would scoff at the nasty cold coffee and let me drink the rest. And I would sip at it like an adult. She was always so surprised that I would drink it like that, but even up to this day, I drink it cold and remember what it was like to fly.