Learning to fly

Absence makes the heart grow fond. When you're thousands of miles from home, on a dark, wintry night and after one hell of a sortie, you will wonder why you put yourself in such a position. Why did I sign on? Why do I want to fly? Is being a pilot really what I want? Such questions run through my mind during that time, and gradually I was losing the battle to fight on. I needed a familiar voice, who could listen to me gripe, who would tell me what is going on at home, who could just say, "It's alright." I gave her a call, and listening to her voice at the other end of a 3000 mile line, I found my little piece of heaven right there and then...

I sat quietly beside her, looking far beyond the rooftop to the docks in front of us. A gentle sea breeze blew, and our swing seemed to follow the swaying of the wind, the beat of our hearts. There wasn't much else to be said between us. I asked, she said yes, and that was that. That was all I needed, in that one moment. Her long hair stroking my face, my hand around her, the smell of her, all my senses were engaged, filled with her. That was my moment for eternity, the moment i said I loved her...

I held on tight to that moment, trying to feel again her warmth. The rain came down hard, and fast, and relentlessly. Lightning streaked across the dark night, illuminating the jungle which surrounded me. I was soaking wet, and trembling violently, and feeling so tired because sleep was being robbed from me by the rain, the 2nd night in a row. My shelter could not serve its purpose because the roof wasn't up yet, and left me exposed to the elements. My uniform was drenched, I could barely feel my extremities, and I was losing my will to fight on. The radio crackled, there was a lot of traffic even though it was 3 in the morning. Someone's structure collapsed, someone's area was flooding, someone was experiencing complications, someone needed help. Everyone wanted to go home. I was tempted to just call it a day, radio in and surrender. But I held on, because I knew she would have wanted me to. I gripped my rifle tighter, tucked it in close. I sensed her again, close to me, smelling her hair, touching her lips, and hearing her say she loved me. Tears ran down my cheeks, mixing with rain to become indistinguishable. I held on, because of her. Maybe this was true love, one that transcends all boundaries. A thousand miles away from home, in the middle of a tropical rainforest living up to its name, in the dark of night, soaked completely and trembling, hungry after days without food, I felt love. Her love.

Don