Day 1197

When you lose a loved one, slowly…very slowly your sadness is slightly eclipsed by a wonderful memory or two. A friend requested a retelling of our precious “Harmonica Man’s” story about the time he met Charles Lindbergh. Having heard this amazing tale countless times, I never tired of the story or Don’s face as he remembered that day.

When my friend was a young boy, he lived near farmland out in the country. He was a hard-working, resourceful young man who would drop most anything if someone needed him. Coming out of the front door of their country home, he stood on the porch as a plane approached. This being a highly unusual event, and Don loving airplanes, he looked skywards in excitement. Spotting the plane it started to sputter and lose altitude. Losing sight of it as it dropped below the tree line, he took off at at a dead run. Crashing through the farm fields and hurdling over fences, Don finally saw the small plane resting in a cornfield.

Running the last few yards, he came upon a man who he immediately recognized as the famous pilot! Lindbergh was standing in front of his plane shaking his head. Fiddling with the propeller, Charles called to the young boy to run to a nearby fence and bring him some wire.

Don quickly did as he was asked and then everything suddenly became surreal. Lindbergh took the wire and told him to jump up into the cockpit. Shouting directions to the young boy, the pilot took the propeller in his hand and pulled down hard. Again and again he pulled until it finally shook a bit and began to rotate! Lindbergh ran to the side of the plane and quickly climbed into the open cockpit after Don had jumped to the ground and scurried for safety.

Rolling through the cornfield, the plane finally built up enough speed to take off into the air. Shielding his eyes from the sun, the young boy watched as the plane circled around and headed toward him. When Charles Lindbergh was directly overhead, he maneuvered the wings to teeter back and forth as a sign of appreciation and farewell.

A short encounter for the young boy, but the memory remained vivid for close to 100 years.

My dear friend would have turned 102 today. Happy Birthday, Sweet Man! You are loved.