Airborne.

“I went to the park and saw this kid flying a kite. The kid was really excited. I don't know why, that's what they're supposed to do. Now if he had had a chair on the other end of that string, I would have been impressed.” - Mitch Hedberg

When was the last time you flew a kite?

Before tonight, I can't recall the last time I held on to a string and gazed up at the sky. It's been so long that the memories of it have faded into nothing but blurry fondness in my mind. (Similar to when I was drinking alot in high school, but without the regret.) I remember owning thousands of kites in the past; mostly just because I was better at running them into the ground than I was at keeping them in the air.

But something made me want to try it with The Boy. So we picked up a cheap Zellers kite, (Batman, cool looking, plastic, came with string.) and after dinner headed for the park to give it a whirl. The Boy was excited about the prospect- he's only seen kite flying once, and he wasn't involved, so the minute he found out that he was going to be an integral part of the flight crew, he ramped the enthusiasm up to maximum. We hoped the wind would be at our backs and I hoped I'd be able to keep the damn thing out of a tree.

At first the wind was not co-operating. It kind of blew for a bit, then changed it's mind and stopped. Started up again, but didn't really have any force behind it. Not enough to get the job done anyway. (This also reminded me of high school, but mostly of drinking with the girls in high school.) I thought that it was going to be a disappointing evening.

And then the wind kicked up. It happened at just the right time too. The kite had came crashing down from an earlier attempt, and The Boy was holding on to it while we wound the string back up. As I felt the wind increase I told him to throw it in the air, and the kite leaped from his hand and arced smoothly into the sky.

As I let the string out to greater distances, The Boy came running over. "Let me try Daddy, Let me." I passed him the string, cautioned him to hold on tight, and stood back and watched him.

When I fly a kite, I think about wind, lift, drag, stability, and altitude. He didn't think of any of this. For him it was magic that kept it up there, and the wonder and excitement on his face was incredible to behold. He could have kept that thing up there for hours.

Best $2.97 I ever spent.

Later.