My oldest daughter Hannah, home for the summer from college, decided to go over to Georgia with a friend to learn how to skydive. I was unable to go with her, and they were going to have to spend the night in the club's hostel, so I'm afraid I was rather harsh with her male friend ("not a BOY friend, Dad, just a friend").
When he picked her up yesterday, Hannah had warned him (a callow leftish sort) of my politics. After I shook his hand, I told him:
"Don't worry about politics, I don't give a rat's ass about your politics. Life will iron that out of you later. My concern is my daughter's safety. I expect her back in the same shape I'm giving her to you in. And if anything does happen, I'll torture you to death over a period of ten days and you'll be screaming in the first thirty seconds. Have a safe trip."
I don't think he caught my wink. His eyes did go a bit wide.
Everything went fine, though. She's back, proud as a frog eatin' fire, as they say up in Winston County. She was determined to jump by herself the first time and not in tandem. Of course she had company on either side until she deployed her chute, but she did it on her own. I'm proud of her too. Here's what her brand-new skydiver's logbook says:
Jump Number: 1
Date: 6 June 09
Location: ASC
Freefall Delay: 60
Equipment: NAV200
Aircraft: Otter
Exit Altitude: 14,000
The Skydive:
AFF Level 1
Good climb out & exit count. Okay exit. Arch a little more. Good COA + 3X P/T's. Relax!!! Need to check altitude more. Good wave off & pull @ 5,500 ft. Need to work on canopy pattern. Remember to check altitude while flying canopy. Flared a little high. Don't let up. Remember to PLF!!!
Okay for Lvl 2.
Will post photos from the jump when they arrive in the mail.
All on the anniversary of D-Day too. Wish I could have been there.
Thanks, Wesley, for accompanying my daughter. From all accounts you did well. Sorry if I scared the excrement out of you there at the beginning. I'm a bit protective of my family. Of course I was kidding, as far as you know, right?
Mike
III
PLF the way the Army does it.
8 comments:
No daughters here, but my son got a similar warning from ME when he took a girl out. All I really had to do is show him examples of what happens when men let the wrong head make the decisions and he figured the rest out for himself. He found a good one and is getting married in two weeks.
ranamacar
Nah - you weren't kidding. Adn had the need arisen I'd have driven over with my assortment of pliers, needles and 16 volt bone saws. I don't believe in waterboarding as it is inhumane.
Seriously, congrats are in order and look forward to seeing the photos!
Glad she had a good jump!!
Congrats to Hannah! That first jump answers questions about yourself that most folks don't like asked. Glad she got back safe.
I don't think Christ would approve of your threats of physical violence about spiritual threats.
If you can't trust your daughter to properly fend off advances, are letting your daughter go into very compromising situations, letting her consort with men you don't know, and/or who you feel you have to threaten to make them stay in line, you are failing her as a father.
Some fatherly advice. No threats here.
------"not a BOY friend, Dad, just a friend"-------
Heh. All of us guys here were that age once, and we know "just a friend" ain't what HE wants. Unless he's "light in the loafers".
What fun.
A buddy of mine is a glider pilot and my 14-yr-old took his first flight yesterday--learned how to do basic maneuvers--released the tow line, did some steering, etc. You should have seen him smile afterward.
Geoff--chill. Remember the part about the wink. I've met one of Mike's daughters and she is a fine and level-headed young lady. No failure there.
Invoking the approval of Christ as the authority for your own judgmentalism seems a tad presumptuous.
It's SO good to see that a Pharisee could take himself away from his Robes of Righteousness Cleaning Service to cut through the mist of what all of the unwashed heathens here obviously understood as humor, and instead, instruct us all to the true error under Mike's entry. Let us all face east and bow to the statue of the Pharisee, that we may be someday conformed to his image.;o)
Didn't one of us take a whip and drive Pharisees and money lenders from teh Temple? Even if not, it seems like a good idea.
Codrea stated the proper perspective response very well above...
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