Learn To Fly
Now I'm looking to the sky to save me Looking for a sign of life Looking for something to help me burn out bright
I've been doing this gig just short of five years now. We're two months out at this moment. If I round up, would you be offended?
Aerospace is a bizarre juxtaposition. Designing hardware that costs million of dollars, but it's put together by people with pipes in their pocket. Launched out of a prideful sorbet of American Defense, but it's a two mile stretch where Subway doesn't look half bad. Drinking a couple tequila sunrises with the sand in your toes, but this building hasn't been upgraded since 1970. The examples stream on, the mind wanders, but the motions are rigid and ayou have a job to do.
Five years ago I wondered what the end result could possibly be. We were supposed to get this first one up literal years ago. The world has changed one hundred and ten ways since then. I never dreamt of the stars before, but they taught me to.
I have forever been fascinated by Christmas lights. For so many people, they represent a brief period of twinkling joy during a difficult cold time. Despite being a semi-permanent installation, the flash of a smile only lasts for minutes. If you are fortunate enough to walk down Main Street, perhaps you can repeat that smile with a perfect duty cycle. After two years of undergraduate education, I pivoted my thinking. The magic of the smile was strong, but there was a literal current running underneath. I knew how it worked now. Not only did the electrons interleave through my knuckles - I could direct them to their part too.
Again, there's magic in a smile. But there's pure arcane skill in being able to induce one. And yet, when you learn how the world works (piece by piece? somewhat larger?)… I immediately turned into a shark. My tight-lipped grin disappears. I defer to you to let me know whether my teeth or my irises are larger. Tonight I learned how one more piece of how the world worked. Tonight I touched this millennia's chariot.
I have leaned on so many people for the last five years. They would never deny this, but worth repeating: we've gotten here as a team. For the first time in a long time, I was shocked to realize the reins were fully in my hand. I looked left and right, up and down, roll and yaw, and yet they remained. This has happened plenty of times before, but this instance was different. I was ready. There was just no doubt, we had this.
Thank you friends. Thank you for trusting me to be in this lonely corner of the country tonight with your dreams. We will are going to learn to fly.
Update
I wrote the above post late at night, drunk on the as-cited timestamp. I couldn't tell you the last time I listened to the Foo Fighters, but it just clicked for me that night. The songs, the interviews, I watched them all night. I continued watching Taylor Hawkins drum specials videos on Youtube until we were closer to the sunrise than the sunset. The next day, I woke up to see that Taylor had passed away. It was cosmically unfair to behold.
What was he doing, while I was celebrating him? Who knows, it's certainly not my place to know. I've sat on this post for awhile out of respect and grief, but finally free comfortable posting it.