Wow!

I get a kick out of being with my grandchildren. They have the ability to let go with their expressions of joy without fear of ridicule. JJ was with me on a couple of locksmith jobs this past week to keep me company. We went past Hook’s Airport on the Stuebner-Airline side and he got to see several small airplanes taking off and landings, almost as if they’d known he was coming. They were practicing take offs and landing, making a circle and coming back for more as we did a dog leg left around the small airfield on our way up toward Tomball on FM 2920 and JJ could see these small airplanes as they came over the top of a stand of trees and lined up for landings. ( In case you’re wondering, FM stands for Farm to Market, an antiquated reference to roads which used to be out in the “sticks”; but are now major thoroughfares in the urban sprawl of Houston and neighboring suburbs )

When the first locksmith job was completed another job came in that would take us past the big airport, IAH. JJ had been there a couple of times and had seen the big passenger jets take off from a distance; he’d even got to fly on one on a trip to see his great grand parents in Florida. The lock job happened to be at Robbin’s Chevy dealership on the Eastex Freeway just east of the airport between the two most used runways as planes lined up on final approach out of the East on their way in. JJ got to sit in the front seat of my work truck with the windows down watching planes on either side of him while I finished up. I cleaned the finger prints off the mirrors; I have no idea what he was drawing, perhaps he was keeping count of the number of jets he watched pass by.

I decided to go back home via FM 1960, basically the same way we’d come in order to avoid some of the places on the freeways that back up during evening rush hour. This route would give JJ yet another chance to watch airplanes land as 1960 runs along the northern airport boundary. We were sitting at a red light with the windows down when JJ noticed the sound of a large jet, very close; so close that the truck shook. JJ looked leaned forward as far as the seat belt would permit as the 737 crossed 1960 directly over our vehicle to land. For many unsuspecting drivers unfamiliar with how the runway is aligned, it might appear that a large jet is making an emergency landing on 1960 because of the angle of approach. We got to experience a jet coming up from behind us and all we could see was its belly with the landing gear locked down as it glided over the boundary fence. All JJ could say was “Wow!”; that’s about all I could say too.

That would be enough for what I wanted to say except that I was relaxing in my easy chair letting my back freeze with an ice pack positioned on my lumbar section. I had the Yankee/Red Sox game on ESPN’s Sunday Night Game of the Week. I watched as the inning started, the Yanks were ahead 3 to zip when all of the sudden Manny Ramirez ripped one over and out of the park to put the Sox on the board with their first run. A couple of pitches later the next JD Drew dropped one into the right field bleachers, the next batter, Mike Lowell drilled one over the fence and out onto the street and then Jason Variteck, the next batter, followed with yet another home run. “Four home runs in a row!”, “Back to back to back to back, Wow!” All four were hit off the same pitcher and it was the first time in Red Sox history that had ever happened. I’m not certain; but I think it’s only the 6th time, possibly the 8th; I’m hoping that the announcers will look that up in the books, that 4 home runs have been hit back to back in all of baseball history. “Wow!”