Taking it for granted.

 

A shared thought of both myself and my friend Tony. 

Over the past week or so, if I was sitting on a park bench or even in the car waiting for Alison. I would invariably slide in to people watching mode. My mind would start a new train of thought.

 I would find myself saying quietly: "That person has no idea what it's like to carry the burden I have". Or I might question to myself  "Does that person appreciate the beautiful health they are in?"

I could probably hold my hand up and question myself that this day a number of weeks ago, did I appreciate my own health?  This evening, a good friend of mine, Tony Allen (who I know for over 20 years) and has a similar illness to myself posted an observation on his own Facebook page. I know Tony from the same technical hobby we share, amateur or ham radio as it is known. Infact, here in Ireland, we are actually classified as wireless experimenters. 

This evening, Tony posted the following on his Facebook page:

 

The above posted here with permission from Tony Allen

Boom!! Tony has hit the nail on the head. I immediately wrote back to him explaining I was thinking very similar thoughts and with the same sentiment. Like Tony, I am in no way jealous of their/your health. We are both just two happy go lucky individuals, always eager to embrace somebody else's good fortune, happy to dig a person out where we could. Having known Tony so long, I can certainly vouch for his integrity with this and I'm sure he could do likewise for me. As I asked Tony during the week, "We are two decent chaps, why did this happen to us, where did we go wrong?"

I'm wondering too, is what myself and Tony are thinking, common for a lot of people with our illness? and by that I mean that they are in no way jealous of other peoples good health, versus the card they are given to play ?

On a side and indeed lighter note (about taking things for granted), this got me thinking of when I used to fly the helicopter. One day I was flying a friend (whom I won't name) and he was extremely nervous. It was his first time up in a chopper and he had previously plagued me for weeks to bring him on a spin. During the flight he kept saying how twitchy he was. It was to be honest, beginning to get distracting to me so I pointed over to an oil pressure gauge and shouted to him "Will you keep an eye on that needle for me please, I'm not happy with it as it tends to stick, so you might give it the odd tap with your finger". 

Well, there was no more moaning about how nervous he was. I could relax for the rest of the duration with especially no unwanted distractions when using the radio. That needle had his full and undivided attention for the rest of the flight. As you probably guessed, there was never anything wrong with it to begin with. 

 

Cockpit of the Helicopter I flew 

showing my friendly oil pressure gauge. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

In other news, I got my Google Chromecast up and running this evening and was reviewing a slide show I just put together on the big screen TV, featuring of course much of my ballooning exploits. These shots show me at my happiest and I know that. I'm thinking, little did I know then what I know now. However, seconds later, I find my mind promising myself, when I beat this thing, I'm so looking forward to going aerostatic again. This is for sure. By the grace of God, Padre Pio and my late Mammy, I'll get to Italy and fly St. Pio on a dedicated flight of Thanksgiving. It will also allow me to pause a while and think of everybody that was thinking of me. This isn't me being cocky by the way. It's that specific and unique train of thought I have of me shooting my beam of light at the stars. Remember what I said? I'll be very happy to hit the moon instead. That'll do me just fine, thank you. 

Incidentally, St. Pio will be flying in Northern Italy next weekend all going well. My wingman and very good friend, Sir Andrew of Blagdon will be in command of G-PPIO.  Let's hope the weather will agree and allow this annual Epiphany Balloon Festival to take to the skies. I'll share any photos of G-PPIO I manage to get back. 

Getting back to my friend Tony, and I'm sure he won't mind me asking, can you please include him and his wife Madeline also in your thoughts and prayers? Myself and Tony are both like minded individuals with young families and we are both pushing ourselves to beat our individual but similar illness. 

"I am dedicating this blog to my friend Tony Allen EI4DIB ✪

We'll both knock this for six Tony"

 

Aidan Murphy EI5HW ✪

✪ Denotes the individual holders licensed 

Irish Radio Experimenter Callsign as issued by ComReg, 

the Irish Government Communications Regulator. 

Thank you so much everyone for reading this.