Earth about to end? Take to the sky!

As a single father of two, what advice can I give that would be truly meaningful? Very little as it might relate to anyone else in this world, except "Go try something new, if for no other reason than to say you did it."

Today's the day that some dude said the world would begin to end, using some effed up biblical math. Concidentally (perhaps), it's also the day that I finally scheduled my "28th" birthday gift from my best girl Natalee. If the Earth started to crumble, I might be lucky enough to watch from above, because today I flew for the first time in a helicopter during my Introductory Flight Lesson.

As it turns out, the details of this experience were almost the opposite of what I expected. I went in thinking going up in the air would cause me to crap myself, followed by a demonstration of my video game knowledge of how the controls should work, if and when my new pilot buddy Graden handed them to me.

What really happened was: Flying at 1500 feet was incredible. Left and right controls, up and down controls were fantastic. Total confidence! It was a totally different story 5 feet above the ground, trying to hover in one place. What I thought was less than a millimeter or less of motion by my hand equated to 15 yards of out-of-control swinging left and right by the R22 helicopter that I thought I was in command of! While it was an awesome experience and and I would recommend trying it at least once to anyone, I do not plan to pursue flight as a hobby (except MJ style on a basketball court!)

Thanks, Nat, for providing the opportunity! It was an experience I'll never forget!