A Sound

I have been holding on to this post for a while, but after the email that I received (that i posted just a few minuets ago) I decided to post this one. You'll probably see it as cheesy, but here goes.

I spent the first 5 1/2 years of my life living at Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo New Mexico. My daddy, was an F15 Eagle tech, his last rank before retiring was Master Sargent. He was in charge of many, many fighter jets, and often slept at the flight line 7 days/nights at a time and came home for just a few days.

As a child I always thought growing up of an Air Force base was a dream come true. I often fell asleep at night listening to jets doing touch and goes just down the road from my house. I would lay there in bed at night and could identify the type of jet by its sonic boom.

There were other times that my momma would drive me out to the flight line (when she had enough of me screaming for my daddy) and my daddy would then take me out by the runway. I would tuck myself in his arms, take in the comforting smell sweat and grease, close my eyes, and relished in the loud pitch. The sound would get louder and softer it eventually would rock me to sleep.

Those loud starry nights are my favorite memories as a child. One night while I was wrapped up in the safety of my daddy's arms I asked him "daddy, why do you like jets so much?" and He held me a little tighter and whispered in my ear..."Taterbug, there is no other noise like jet noise. Jet noise is the sound of freedom. When you hear a jet, remind yourself that the noise represents the heart beat of a pilot willing to give you his life."

Those words remain with me today.

Many nights while I am pulling into work I hear the loud humming of a plane, sometimes...I'm blessed to here a fighter jet.

For those brief moments when I get to hear that noise...that only a fighter jet can make, I stop breathing, tears well up in my eyes, my heart pounds out of control, and I am covered with goose bumps.

The sound takes me back to the days when I was just a daddy's girl, but also remind me to pray for those who make our freedom possible and their families.