It never gets old and I always clap

As many times as I have flown, it never gets old and I always clap.

I grew up having a father as a pilot. We thought everyone had a Cessna airplane tied by grandmas house. We thought everyone taxi’d across the highway to the landing strip and took off. For us that was normal. And somehow along the way we clapped when daddy landed each time. Somehow that always stayed with me. I might be the only one on the plane clapping but I always do. One time after a rather rough flight in bad weather when I started most of the plane joined in. We were thankful to be on the ground safe.

Does it matter that the pilots have no clue I clapped? No, but it matters to me. It never gets old that thrill of feeling the wheels hit, watching the flaps go up and feeling the power engines thrust backwards to slow the plane. And I always clap to show respect and appreciation for someone more knowledgeable than I being willing to take my life in a tin can and move at amazing speeds through space…. and safely put the wheels down thousands of miles away….