Let’s Go Fly A Kite…

[Music On] …Up to the highest height / Let’s go fly a kite / And send it soaring / Up through the atmosphere / Up where the air is clear / Oh, let’s go fly a kite! [/Music Off]

There was a time in my childhood that I really enjoyed flying kites. I didn’t have a favorite type, color, or style of kite, I just wanted to tie some string to something, throw it in the air, and watch it go…

I do remember about the time I stopped flying kites… It was the spring of ’78 and everyone was excited since we had just come through the, now infamous, Blizzard of ’78. It was warmer, it was getting green, the sky was blue, the clouds light & white & fluffy, and there was wind. Good time to fly kites!

I got a balsa wood box kite kit, spent a bit of time gluing everything together and getting it all ready, got my string, and away I went. It took a little effort to get it up in the air, but once it started to go it was great. I must have had it out on about 800’ of string and was just standing there in the lot, watching my kite, peaceful and content…when a strong gust of wind hit the kite, the string broke, and…well, yeah, down went the kite.

The problem with where I lived and kite flying was the woods, tree lines, ditches, and fields. The wind had blown the kite over the woods back behind the house, and since the string had broke, all I could do was guess as to where the thing might have gone down at and go try to find it. I searched the rest of that day and the next, didn’t find the kite. So, I gave up on it. Talk about feeling like Charlie Brown… All I needed was for my girl friend (as in, she was a friend and female) next door to come along with a football.

Anyway, to continue, towards the end of the year, maybe December, I was back in the woods doing something and as I was walking along towards the north edge of the woods I happened to look up at this really big and tall tree; up in the very top, on the south side of the tree, hung the skeleton of my box kite. I think if the thing had been about four or five feet higher in the air it would have cleared that tree and come down in a field. Needless to say, I left my kite there in the now hallowed branches of that tree and that is about the last time I remembered flying a kite.

That is until last year when I was taking a camping vacation along Lake Michigan. We happened to have some kites there and I started flying on again there on the beach. I was once again amazed to find how peaceful and relaxed I became standing there holding onto the end of a piece of string while watching this cheap piece of plastic toy flying overhead.

Why am I talking about all of this? Well, I’ve been stuck at the office all day today and I walked outside a little while ago to have a smoke. It’s sunny, the temperature is nice, there are a few clouds in the sky, and there is wind. I’m stressed… I’m not happy about working on a weekend… I have a lot of things on my mind at the moment… But for a minute, I stood there, looking up into the sky… And remembered… All of the sudden, I had this urge to head to a hobby store, find a balsa wood box kite, some string, and fly my way into bliss… Come on, everyone!!! Let’s go fly a kite!