Taking Flight
Everyone as a kid has that one dream of becoming a racecar driver, teacher, doctor, and sometimes even the president. When I was a kid, I always believed that when I grew up I would become an astronaut. The sight of a space shuttle taking off from its station was one of the greatest sights my eyes had ever seen. Listening to the dispatcher countdown how many seconds the shuttle had until launched, hearing the jets fire up and of course watching all the smoke and flames come from underneath the shuttle just astounded me. Whenever I was a boy my family took me to the museum of aviation and space in Raleigh, North Carolina. That is where I first saw the space shuttle “The Challenger” burst into flames seconds after it left the ground. After I watched that video, it suddenly changed my mind about becoming an astronaut. Whenever I was younger my dad would always take me to the airport and watch the airplanes take off. Since I no longer wanted to become an astronaut, I decided that I still wanted to try flying since I had never experienced it. I loved the sound of an airplane as the jets on the plane were idling, getting ready for takeoff. The vision of an airplane traveling at such fast speeds as it was about to take off, watching the wheels leave rock-solid ground as it vanished into the clouds just astounded me. I knew that one day, not too long from then, I would have the opportunity to fly in an airplane.
It wasn’t until the last couple of months of my senior year at Richmond Hill High School when I was given the opportunity to fly in an airplane. I found out that a club called Young Republicans was allowing only a select few students go on a trip to Washington D.C. As soon as I saw this banner hanging outside my classroom, I knew I was going regardless if it was coming out of my pocket or not. I had to get out of Georgia and see more of the states. I had never been anywhere in this beautiful country besides the southeast coast, and the farthest north I had ever been was the border of Virginia. This was my opportunity. So later on I decided to join the club for a small fee of thirty dollars, and it was well worth it. I attended every meeting after school, and paid my five hundred dollars for the airplane ticket to Washington D.C. This was easily the best five hundred dollars I had spent in my entire life. I can’t even explain how excited I was to fly in an airplane. I counted down every day until it was time to wake up at three in the morning and catch a ride to the airport. I was about to go on one of the most exciting trips I have ever been on in my life.
April 11th of 2013 came faster than I thought it would. I was so excited I couldn’t even sleep, so instead I checked all of my bags at least three times before I knew for sure I had everything I needed for this four day trip. At three o’ clock in the morning, I had everything sitting outside my house waiting on Joe to arrive and take me to the airport. I couldn’t believe it, I was about to fly on an airplane for the first time in my entire life. This was the moment I had always been waiting for.
Joe arrived at my house around three fifteen. Before he could even step a foot out of his car, I already had my bags in his trunk and was sitting in his passenger seat. We were in such a hurry because I had to meet up with the rest of my club members at four, and our plane boarded at five thirty. Those two and a half hours went by so slow, but most of that time was taken up by all the security and bag checks that were required before boarding the airplane. At the time I became real nervous about getting on this plane. It may have been one of the most nerve-racking things I had ever done, but I knew that I wasn’t backing out now and I was about to experience what I have always wanted to do since I was a boy.
We boarded the airplane at five thirty. Once on the plane, everything became very quiet. I found my seat and sat down, waiting for the plane to be cleared