Blessed Busyness

This week has been nice and busy. It's been the kind of busyness that I love to wake up to. My best friend from high school, Jonathan Dassow, has an old house he needs to have restored by the 21st, so he's summoned me and my amateur building abilities to assist in the enormous project. The whole house is like a playground for my creativity. I have enormous responsibility, i.e., i'm heavily depended upon by my friend because he doesn't know how to do most of the stuff himself; yet i feel tremendous freedom because I know I can experiment and make mistakes and fix them and be self- instructed on how to change my methods for the next time. The greatest reward I receive from this work is getting to help and be with Jonathan. I can think of very few other ways to play the role of a friend than this. We met in high school and did everything together. We were even going to have parallel careers, but that didn't work out for him. Now he's getting married and moving into his own house. He always was the first in everything. And i was always behind him to cheer him on and give support. Here I am again, perhaps for the last time, too.
I made a determination to take flying those people who i had offered a ride to in the past. Now had to be the time because if i don't sieze the moment, i could find myself in Texas and regretting that i never fulfilled those promises. On Tuesday, my acquiantance Hawkins and I hopped in the little 152 to Lake Bloomington and back for a 25-minute flight. The next to go was Evan Fleming and Michael Field on Thursday. Evan and I flew around Lake Bloomington a bit, and on the return to the airport I went by our high school Alma Mater Calvary Baptist Academy and Evan's current college, Illinois State Univ. Evan got to see his house too as we were on downwind for runway 29. The time with Mr. Field was truly noteworthy. To save time, i wanted to use Runway 11 for takeoff, but Bloomington tower had me holding short for over five minutes waiting for a Malibu eight miles away on Runway 29. What's one to do? Well, Michael said he'd take that time to tell me that he'd decided to pay for the whole flight himself. I was taken by surprise, but man was that good news! He wanted to go land at Pontiac, 30 miles north-east of Bloomington. When we got there, he mentioned that he grew up in Pontiac and that if i followed the little river he'd see his old house. Back in Bloomington, again I intentionally entered left downwind for Runway 29 so that he could view the house he is living in today. I get nostalgic about going from Past to Present in one day. I bet he was thrilled, too. After our flight was over and i told him the cost, he gave me the money and told me that that was money very well spent.
This week has been very satisfying because I get to use what I love to give people a happy experience. I derive so much pleasure from seeing people enjoy flying; they smile for a long time afterwards.
I'm living as under the shadow of the inevitable. I do not know for certain when my time here will end. It could be next week, next month or in three months. Whatever the case, my experience here is transient. I'm passing through, and in what seems like tomorrow, Bloomington, Hawthorne Lake, Rachel, Abby, the Fields and Howertons, my family, Jonathan Dassow, Constitution trail, Panera's, Calvary, and all the rest will be a memory. The sentiment i wish to get with that memory is that I am proud of it all.
So, if I were the future me getting to relive now, what would I choose to do?
Take more friends flying? visit my grandparents more? work longer hours on Jonathan's house? hang out with friends more?

"Keep the heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." - Proverbs 4

Pics: happy passengers!