Passion for Planes, Paintings, and Pets
Passion. It sparks in radiant arcs when you discover it—or it discovers you. When you have it, you couldn’t hide its warm glow if you tried. Passion spills beyond the edges of your physical form to illuminate your path in life. But to recognize that path you must wake up and pry your eyes away from the crowded route most people suggest you travel in life, a road thick with working dead zombies who move however they’re told. To find your true path, study your surroundings and discover where passion’s glow throws vibrant light onto hidden doorways and seldom-used shortcuts. Trust and follow that beam. It will lead you to the person you are meant to be.
Passion is not only luminescent, it’s magnetic as well. Passion draws kindred souls to you even as it tugs you toward them. When the individual light of passions mix and swirls, magic emerges.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve attended passion-energized gatherings and watched how they connect us in the most unlikely places. For pilots who read this blog, please read to the end to learn how your passions can help others with theirs.
Passion for Planes
If you have a passion for flying like me, you were either at the AirVenture aviation show in Wisconsin the last week in July, or wishing you were. For seven days, enthusiasts and professionals from all over the globe spilled through the gates of Wittman Regional Airport in the tiny town of Oshkosh, drawn by the love of aviation.
On the grounds of Wittman, the world’s busiest airport for those seven days, people smiled, laughed, and socialized surrounded by aviation. When thousands of people gather—in this case, 500,000—you often can’t help witness rude acts by someone. But I can’t think of a single disturbing event that occurred in my presence the entire time I was there. In fact, I can’t recall any rudeness at all in the four years I’ve attended so far.
My friends and I always camp at Oshkosh in a prime spot under ancient oak trees near the vintage airplane area courtesy of Steve Betzler, an aviation enthusiast, and all-around great guy. Every morning we’d wake to Piper Cubs, Fairchilds, Staggerwings, and Stearmans tied down outside our tents. Steve—who has a passion for Tiger Moths airplanes—flies up the week before the event and sets up a small city of tents for his long list of aviation friends who travel from as far away as New Zealand. Every year the camp gets bigger, most residents connected through Steve, the unofficial mayor of Oshkosh tent city. Before the camp grew into what it is today, it started with Steve meeting other Moth enthusiasts for dinner during the Oshkosh show. Today, the camp is a landmark, a place to drop by and catch up with friends, old and new, and talk aviation. Pilots call it hangar flying although in this case, the hangar ceiling is replaced by the pinprick of stars twinkling through the spaces in the oak leaves.
Steve said it best when he summed it up with this, “One would never expect that the find of a lonely Tiger Moth carcass in the corner of an old hangar would lead to the tangled—but rewarding—web of places, people, and experiences that are, at the end of the day, more rewarding and lasting than the plane itself. Aviation is a worldwide fellowship after all…”
In that worldwide fellowship at Oshkosh this year, I had the chance to meet some fellow aviation bloggers in person. Lynda Meeks, a citation jet pilot needed some help at her “Girls with Wings” booth at the show so I volunteered for a bit. Lynda is passionate about flying, but also about inspiring young girls to fly by providing role models for these young women.
I was the “tattoo guy” in the booth, my responsibility to attract attendees our way, then brand them with a Girls with Wings tattoo. While in the booth, I met Dave Gamble, blog author of the Papa Golf Chronicles. Dave was one of the first bloggers to list my blog on his when I first started. I met Dave because his daughter, nicknamed Egg, volunteered most of the week in the booth. Somehow, as I was busy talking to exhibit attendees, Egg peppered me with tattoos on my forearms and knee. I began to get concerned I wouldn’t escape without one on my forehead. I think Egg tried a couple of times, but I ducked. The guys at the camp gave me some good-natured ribbing over the tattoos during our next hangar flying session.
If you’re a pilot and haven’t been to AirVenture, I urge you to check it out. In a single day, you may have fellow aviation enthusiasts like Sir Richard Branson or Harrison Ford stroll past you. But for a real treat, fly yourself to Wittman next year and stop by Steve’s camp under the massive oaks next to the vintage area to introduce yourself. There are no strangers in aviation.
Passion for Paintings
After my trip, I was reminded that it really is a small world. When I arrived at The Sanctuary the next week to return to the business of writing, the universe showed off again. A week-long figurative painting class taught by the talented Dee Beard Dean unfolded across from me as I worked on my novel. I always welcome company at The Sanctuary as I’m by myself a good part of the day. The energy and passion of these painters weaving their own personal masterpieces lifted me as well.
As the class set up on the day I returned, Judy Meyler, organizer of the class and a talented painter in her own right, introduced me to Dee, mentioning that I used the space as well to write my novel. When Dee asked the premise, I relayed a bit including the flying elements. Her eyes sparkled a bit before she said, “My daughter flies with her husband. They both just returned from the aviation show in Oshkosh.” She called her daughter over to meet me. Terry was at the workshop She and I enthusiastically discussed aviation and the excitement of the show. She told me they’d flown their plane in a record-breaking RV formation. I pulled up a photo I’d shot at the show and said, “This formation?” She smiled and pointed to their plane in the formation. “That’s us, right there.”
In the studio with the painters, I sensed the same energy I’d felt at Oshkosh, a pulse in the air. As I wrote, the painters seemed to glow themselves as they turned blank canvases into colorful realities, beauty from brushstrokes. Occasionally, I walked around, admiring each painting, all similar in scene but each with subtle, separate nuances that showed their own take on the world. When I returned to my chair to write once more, I lifted my eyes from the scenes in my novel to peek at the scene before me. If I squinted my eyes right, I could almost see light swirl off each of them.
Passion for Pets
Another reminder of passions, and how they connect, struck me when I opened the avalanche of emails once I returned last week. A good writer friend of mine, one who appears on the verge of big things, had sent an email about the Pilots N Paws organization. This friend has a deep love for animals and is an active volunteer for animal shelters and rescue operations, sharing this passion with several other friends of mine. There is a common thread I noticed among these friends as well: excitement and fulfillment in what they are doing. My writer friend knows my flying passion well, knows it's the subject of my novel. She passed along information that happens to bring together the animal lover groups and the aviation groups. If you are a pilot, here’s an opportunity to help another tight community full of good people who do things because they love to, not because someone makes them.
As pilots, we know it’s thrilling to spend time in the sky. We’re always looking for excuses to do it. But it’s also fun to have a destination. For the period between September 12th and September 20th, 2009, pilots can donate ferry rides to save animals and get them to locales where volunteers can ensure they’re safe. Consider helping out if you can. Click here for more details.
My life is richer and more energized after spending time around passionate people the last few weeks. What’s your passion? Have you found it yet? There’s no shame if you haven’t, but it is a shame if you’re not looking for it. Don’t be surprised if it’s hiding in plain sight. Sometimes we’re too distracted to notice it because we are chasing what others think we should.
What in your world draws you toward it? What looks more vibrant, more colorful than its surroundings? What glows for you? Somewhere, in that swirling light, your passion awaits.
