Oh brother!

It must have been about 1976, mom, dad, Brian and I  had been in the car for hours. Brian and I were in the backseat of the 1970 green pontiatic. We must have been moving  to North Carolina. Mom was just trying to keep us quiet so we wouldn't drive dad crazy. My job was to learn to tie my shoes. Brians job was to be a big brother and annoy his little sister. Brian figured out I didn't like the smell of his grape bubble gum so he proceded to lean over as far as possible (invading "my" half of the back seat) and get within inches of my head. He then blew his sugar laced puple breath directly in my face again and again. Brian  thought it was funny and laughed.... I still don't like the smell of grape bubble gum.

Dad

As dad reflects on his past, he has shared some stories of his time on navy ships and flying.  To me, it’s wild that dad used to fly planes at all, let alone land them on ships.  I would like to learn more about this part of his past or hear more stories and what he thought of it.  I guess it’s true how people sort of always think how they think because when he talks about his past and how he reflects on things it still feels like a similar vein as how he process things now.  Anyways...he was telling a story about how there was a flight that some of his pilot friends were on and somehow his name and his friend was on the manifest.  Dad and his friend were on shore that day so they were unaccounted for and believed to be on the plane also or supposed to be. Apparently there was an issue with their friends flight and either they disappeared or crashed into the water etc. and no one survived. But for a time it was thought dad was on there too.  Fortunately, the manifest turned out to be wrong, but it was a very emotional thing to process; his other pilots death, the possibility he could have been on that as well, etc.  Quite crazy to consider all the alternative scenarios possible.