As a child, I used to watch the birds, the seagulls. I grew up on the coast, West Coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, and the birds would swirl in the storm. Exciting and fantastic. And I always wanted to fly. I wanted to soar like the birds.

Right? But we remember the story of Icarus. He flew too close to the sun and then he plunged to Earth. So this was the warning, wasn’t it? That if we’re going to try to fly, it’s a dangerous thing.

Well, growing up in British Columbia, there weren’t a lot of roads but my father worked for a logging company. So we used to go timber cruising. He would get a small 4 person plane. The pilot, he would sit in the front. I sat in the back float plane, and we would be off.

2 years old, 3 years old, I remember this vividly to this day. And you would take off, and there was a primordial roar from the engine as it revved up. And then you would feel the slap of the waves against the bottom of the airplane on its pontoons and they would go whack, whack, whack, whack, whack, whack. And suddenly, you would be magically up into the air. And the wind would be blowing and it would be throwing you around in many directions, terrifying and yet exhilarating at the same time.

Up you would go higher and higher and higher and higher. And the houses got smaller and smaller and smaller, and they became tiny toys. And you would fly along and you’d look down through the clouds and you’d see the activity of perhaps a car along a road or a truck moving or a logging operation, lots of logging in the region I grew up in and you would fly along. And eventually after an hour or so, you would slowly begin to descend down, down, down, down and then you would eventually land and you would come to a logging camp usually floating on the water. So they would have the camp floating on the water and then they would be cutting these these logs, these trees, and they would be hauling them down to the water.

It was quite a quite a primitive operation usually by a lot of people, and the smell of the wood was very aromatic and very, very attractive. You felt like you were in a certain way Paul Bunyan. You were a primitive man trying to fight against nature. And at this time in my life, and I saw this from the airplane, the trees, the forest, endless, went on forever. So man was just touching his finger against nature.

You could never conquer nature. It was absolutely impossible. One of the most vivid images I have of one of these trips with my father was a man. His His name was Pelto, I believe. Mister Pelto.

And he was going bankrupt because the wood, when it arrived into the water sank, it was so waterlogged that it wouldn’t float. And he wasn’t getting paid for this wood supposedly. And I remembered he drank a cup of coffee. We went into the cookhouse. I’m a little boy, very small.

And I was with my father, of course, and he’s talking to mister Pelto. And mister Pelto was so stressed out and he was shaking so violently that the coffee spilled everywhere. And the big fat cook had to pour him another coffee. I remember this. And then we took off.

And in the end, I guess mister Pelto did go bankrupt. Apparently lost everything. Right? Lost everything. So this one of the vivid images of flying as a child.

When I got to be older, I had a business, and we used to fly between Victoria and Vancouver and Vancouver and Victoria. Small plane. Maybe not more than 6, 10 passengers. And of course, this is long before 911 so there is no concern about security. So you literally went down to the airport and waited for the plane.

And mostly, it was, of course, land based plane and the wind would rage. And I used to go into the coffee shop and I remember having a shot of whiskey. I needed whiskey and I don’t drink whiskey for many many years but at the time, it was artificial courage because it was a terrifying experience to get on this airplane and then you’d be off. And now you’re older and you’re wiser and you have some concept of dying and the wind would buffet you. Incredible.

I remember one time sitting on an airplane and there was a man sitting beside me and he was selling stock or something And he kept talking about this stock and I should buy this stock. And suddenly, we’re soaring along at 10000 feet or so and the wind caught us and I was suddenly looking down at him. We were at a 90 degree angle for a moment and the man stopped talking for a very long time. Maybe 1 minute. Gosh.

And then he we bounced back and the man started talking again and then we landed. And of course, men are men. We’re so brave. We’re so proud of ourselves, right? Such courage.

So he said to me, did you notice the wind a little bit today? I said, oh, there was a little bit of wind. I never noticed anything at all. Wow. So these were times and now, of course, this is impossible because of security.

You spend quite a bit of time. It’s not like it was at all. And the forests have been mostly cut down in British Columbia and so now, they’re harvesting so called second growth to a large extent. So times have changed a lot. But these are wonderful images from the past flying with my father.

Right? And you know what they say. Gosh, you know what they say. Critical thinking is necessary. It gives us images of hope and love, passion, and critical thinking is truly great. We need to think, don’t we? Save the world. Bless you. Take care. Bye bye.

Soaring to the heavens with my father