Big Mother.....
As I drive to work each day, I pass by the airport. The highway that I take is directly in the flight path and jets fly overhead. In the morning, jets are taking off to the east.. and they fly over.. sometimes I feel like waving (I'll explain in a bit). At night, after work, the planes are landing from the east so you see those magnificent jets lowering their landing gear just above your head as you creep on the highway home.

When I was a little boy (between the ages of 7 and 12) my family lived in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. I have been to a few border towns,but there really is nothing like the border between Mexico and the United States... you take a few steps and you skip one world going from the U.S. to a Third World Country.. (where does that saying come from?) Our house was small, but in comparison to the people living on the hills around us.. it was a mansion. Anyway, occasionally on weekends we would all get in the Ford Country Squire wagon and take a drive up to Tucson.... the big city.

On the way back to Nogales we would stop by Davis Monthan Air Force base. We would get out of the car and stand by the fence at the edge of the runway and watch Boeing test out the new 747... My father called it... "The Big Mother...." It was exciting and scary.





Now whenever I see a 747, I say..."Wow, just look at that big Mother!"