Kaylee didn't go anywhere for Fall Break, said she wanted to stay home and relax, sleep some, chill. The one thing she was looking forward to was a hike, today, down by Bloomington, IN in the hills and trees, with her church group and friends. She packed the day before, took her time getting everything ready, and set her alarm for 5:45 am, and a backup alarm at 6:15.
This morning I was woken up by a sobbing 17 year old. She'd missed her alarms and overslept by an hour, and they'd tried to text and call, but her phone was off, and they left. She was really upset. She was really looking forward to it. I told her I'd drive her down there if she could catch up to them somewhere. They said it was a little over a 2 hour drive and that she could still hike with them the last 2.5 hours. Steve said "This place is real close to Bloomington Airport." He calls the FBO there, gets a courtesy car locked in place. He calls our airport and has the guys preflight, get fuel if need be (didn't need), and pull the plane around. I throw myself in the shower and run out the door with Kaylee. She forgets cash. I only have $17 on me. I forget my sweatshirt or coat, so I'm just in a T-shirt. She says "If we can't catch up to them, will you go hiking with me down there?" I said yes. I'm in thin shoes and a t-shirt, not exactly hiking gear, but I still said yes. We have nasty headwinds all the way down, but I leave the plane basically wide open, and we touch down at the airport right when they're getting to the park. I taxi up, grab the car keys, and then we have a 20 minute drive to the park. It costs me $7 to get into the park. I give Kaylee my last $10 because she forgot cash. We pull in, they're all there at the bus smiling at us, I drop her off, and she made it in time.
I fill up the airport's car as a thank you, top off the airplane there as a thank you, have strong tailwinds on the way home now, and I make it back just in time to land at Glenndale for lunch at 12:01 p.m. I'd been up till 2:30 am, was woken up abruptly and ran from there on, so now I'm wiped out, but back home.
So, there is the world of natural consequences. You oversleep, you miss an event you were excited about or supposed to be at, then so be it, that's how it works in the real world, you goof up, you miss out. She already knows that lesson; she has been getting herself up for school, events, work, etc. on her own for years now. She has missed/been super late once before now. She's a good kid. So I have a couple other lessons I'd like her to learn from this. One, a reminder that her dad and I have her back where we can. If she was a lazy, constantly late, sullen kid, then she'd have been out of luck today. But she works at it, works with us, was very concerned about not making the whole group wait or change their plans because of her. Was concerned about my schedule for today. So we'll work with her. And Two, when things don't go as planned, think outside the box, don't panic, and often there is a solution. If not, then you'll have to deal with it. But a lot of problems can be fixed.or worked if you stop and think and don't just throw in the towel. I hope she's learning that by now. Also, score one for Aviation. ;) When we were winging our way down there, she looked over and said "Thank you." very sincerely and sweetly. I laughed and said "You're welcome". She said "Why are you laughing?" I said "Nothing bad, I don't know why, I guess because I'm glad we could help, and because I like it when flying saves the day." We flew down in about 45 minutes, listening to music the whole way, enjoying the view (the trees are JUST starting to turn colors down there) and the company. And I didn't have to go hiking in the forest in a t-shirt and thin shoes. Win/Win. ;)
On the way home after successfully dropping off one hiker.
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