Aie Aie Aie

My son Costa is 11 and has developed a serious crush on planes. Actually not planes so much as flying.

So being who he is, he has been taking flying lessons (mostly paid for by him).

This was kinda pushing the edges of my comfort zone but even though I have not yet gone up in the plane with him, I have managed to watch him take off without making a fool of myself by screaming - or fainting.

And then, a few days ago, he started mentioning flying for the Navy. Landing on aircraft carriers to be specific.

I won’t go into the details of why this plan is sooooo far from my aforementioned comfort zone.

When he wrote a book, a few years ago, I was completely happy with his vision of “writing books while traveling in an RV.” I think he had talked of getting a dog to keep him company and I had felt very much at home with that scenario.

Enters the Navy.

Enters his wish to go visit an aircraft carrier “as soon as possible.”

Yikes.

Now, I know that he is only 11 and that he has time to change his mind 200 times before it really matters.

And I also know what it feels like when you announce “what you want to do when you grow up” and nobody pays attention. Or worse: laughs.

So, yesterday, I took a deep breath and I tapped into the part of me that believes in supporting my kids’ exploration - independently of my own ... stuff.

And I sent an email to a man I met while teaching a class who spends a good deal of time on aircraft carriers.

I asked him if he could take Costa (and me) to visit one, this summer.

He said he thought he might be able to work it out.

Oh boy.