Back when I was training to be a pilot, I got to practice patience. I had earned the right to fly solo, but was restricted to 10 kt. winds or less. I was within an hour or two of practice before completing the process, so every chance to fly was important. One day the winds were blowing 11 kt., so I got everything ready and sat in the plane watching the winds, other planes easily landing and taking off, and listening to weather information. I thought about having easily flown in winds twice that strong with an instructor along, and knew it would be easy. I knew it unlikely anyone would ever know if I just took off and completed the practice. Instead I sat in the plane until my available time was gone, then heard the wind report drop to 9 kt., but calmly put everything away and left for my other activities of the day.
Driving away, I thought about a hawk sitting on a post. Calm, attentive, and ready to take off instantly. That’s how I had felt the whole time. I thought again of that day when I spotted this red tail sitting atop the SBA firehouse antenna.
8003 Hawk on a Post
So today as the timing grows ever tighter for us to have any chance of leaving on our N by NW adventure, it was helpful to recall that calm. Hopefully I can keep returning to that, efficiently taking care of the zillion details while retaining an inner calm.
John & Anne Wiley 
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