Surprised by a fellow aviator

I'm always happy to meet a fellow pilot.  It instantly creates a conversation and acquaintance through your shared enthusiasm.  I'm usually pretty good at picking out these people, but occasionally I'm surprised.

One such occasion happened just this weekend.  I'd gone to a party for the GA-GA Tech football game at a friend's house (I'm neutral for political reasons).  The usual people I know were there, but some others I hadn't met yet showed up.  One was the father of my friend's husband.  I'm sure he'd mentioned before that his father was a pilot, but it completely slipped my mind as I shook his hand and introduced myself.

It wasn't until later that night, as my group was leaving, that the friend remembered I was a pilot as well and told his dad.  That, of course, started a conversation that I've had a million times before but never grow tired of.  It turns out, he got his commercials in fixed wing and rotor wing aircraft in the military.  He's a minister now and doesn't do that much flying, but the aviator inside a person never goes away.


It just goes to show, we're not as rare as we think we are.  You never know when you might have a fellow member of our exclusive club in the same room as you.

*By the way, the Bulldogs won.  It was a great game and could have gone either way.