Drum Beats and Flying High

Recently, at an evening visit to the Guitar Center in Albuquerque, Michael found himself in the drum section instead of the guitar racks and suddenly his tastes strayed from strings to percussion.  The guy behind the counter gave Michael a set of drum sticks and sat him down at one of the sets.  He showed Michael where the bass pedal and cymbal pedal were and had him start out with a fairly simple beat.  Michael picked it right up and started drumming away.

  

Then the two of them started jamming.  Michael was grinning as the rhythm flowed and the tempo built. They moved to another set of drums, an electric set, that played the accompaniment (the whole band), and the two of them really rocked the place.  Before we got out of there, Michael was offered free drum lessons and the chance to really play with musicians that know what the heck they're doing.  He was stoked!

It was really neat to see the smile and watch him move to the groove!  It will be interesting to see how he manages to play the guitar, banjo, and drums at the same time.  If it can be done, I'm sure he'll figure out a way to do it.

The first week of October is when the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta takes place.  This year, Michael was invited by the pilot of the Wounded Warrior Project balloon to come and fly.  The only problem was that the Wounded Warrior Project staff had invited someone else to fly and bring their spouse.  The pilot was going to bump the wife and let Michael fly but he didn't want that to happen so we sought an alternate plan.  Fortunately, Mr. George Hahn, a well known, long time balloonist (and one of the Balloon Fiesta Board of Directors) offered to take Michael in his balloon so everyone was able to get their flight.  As it turned out, Michael got the best deal by far.  The other balloon flew for about fifteen minutes, Michael was up for nearly an hour.

Here I am helping him get into the basket.  I wasn't worried about his flight but I was a bit nervous about the landing. If the wind is blowing a little hard, landings can be a bit rough.  Having been through a rough landing I was worried that he wouldn't be able to brace himself as he couldn't see what was coming and know what to expect.  Fortunately, the winds were fine and the landing was superb. I'm sure George's piloting skills had a lot to do with it.

You can see by the look on his face that he wasn't the least bit worried.  They told me that grin stayed there the entire flight.  Michael said George narrated the entire trip and explained every aspect of hot air ballooning to him.  One of the other passengers, who has flown a number of times, told me she learned more on this flight than ever before.  I was touched by George's willingness to not only take Michael up, but to then explain it all to him in a way that enabled Michael to "see" what was happening and know what was going on all around him. 

Yep, that's him up there!  As you can see, there is a lot of action in the early morning sky.  Believe me, for those of you that haven't seen this event, this picture does not even come close to showing what a normal launch looks like. This is just a fraction of the balloons that normally go up.  It just so happened that Michael's sister Tiffany and her family were close by.  They called me on a cell phone and by using the colors and patterns of balloons around his as points of reference, they were able to figure which balloon he was in and they were there when he landed.  He was pleasantly surprised to land and find family gathered around.  As luck would have it, it worked out well for the balloon crew too.  They had landed in a place where they couldn't get their truck close so Tiffany's husband Camren worked like a mule to help move and then pack the balloon up.  Thanks Cam!  That's a lot of work for a guy that didn't get the chance to go up.

After they loaded the balloon in the truck, the balloon crew returned to the field and treated Michael to a post-flight brunch.  Michael was taken to a nearby launch site and introduced to another balloon crew that had bagpipers on hand.  They played a couple of special songs for him, one being Amazing Grace, that touched us all deeply.  Each piper then thanked Michael for his service and sacrifice.  He thanked them in return for playing for him and we returned to George's launch site. Shortly thereafter, we thanked George and his crew and headed to the house.  Michael was beaming all the way home and telling me all about his adventure. 

It always humbles me to see the dignity and kindness Michael shows to those around him.  I've watched the effect he has on people and hope he can always maintain the optimism and love of life he's expressed so far.  It was a truly memorable experience that I will always cherish and I'm sure Michael will too. Thanks to all of you that have played a part in this roller coaster ride called 2010.