Ginger Comes Out of Retirement - Feels Like Audrey

A while back, I was trying to talk an editor into letting me write for him.  His answer was to put it back on me.  "Give me some of your ideas," he said.  And you know, I honestly didn't have anything good to give him.

Nobody wants honest aircraft evaluations, the philosophy of aviation, or editorials on controversial subjects.  But, those are my things so I expected him instead to tell me what he'd like me to write and give me a shot.  See if I could grin and bear it; write about things I didn't want to yet still create something people would want to read.  That, of course, did not happen.  So, I pretty much resigned myself to not writing for anyone and moved on to underwater basket weaving.

Everything was going fine with my new found hobby and villagers from across the world were after my thatched containers when a new job offer came in.  It was something I knew I had to do.  Unfortunately, it meant I would be in training before, during, and after the fly-in.  How would we pull it off?  That was the question.  Fortunately, as always, Ginger stepped up and crushed it; knocked it out of the park.  Why someone hasn't hired her away is beyond me.

Anyway, during the event I received a new cap as thanks for contributing to the very group for which I had wanted to write.  My brother also received a cap.  Then a letter came from one of our Lee Bottom Family Members who also happens to be a Congressman fighting the good fight for aviation.  He thanked me for my efforts, said great things about the event, and took the time to write a nice hand written addition to it.

What's important about all this is that although I only showed up late on Friday (after class) and left as soon as the event was over, I received all the thanks and none of these people thought to do anything special for Ginger.  I'm not knocking them.  I'm merely pointing out something we all do.

To be clear, none of these folks left Ginger out intentionally.  In fact, since I was the contact person for all communications with these people it probably never even crossed their minds.  It seemed only logical to address everything to me.   Yet, once again I couldn't help but feel horrible.

A while back Ginger asked, "I wonder if Audrey ever felt overlooked?"  I have no illusions of ever being anything close to Paul but I'm sure Ginger knows a lot about being Audrey.  She must have felt very unappreciated at times despite all the friends who told her otherwise.  People simply do not take the time to think about who actually makes it all happen and when they forget them it hurts.  It also doesn't help that the people who make things work are often the type to suffer silently and move on. Eventually though, they do get tired of it all and quit.   Ginger has already done that once but came back this year because there was no other option.

So what did all this have to do with writing for somebody else?  If they had asked me today to give them an idea, I would have said, "I'll write about the people who make all this s__t happen, how to find them,  and make sure they get the much deserved thanks."  I'm sure there's at least one at every field.

PeeEss:  During the fly-in, I was standing nearby when Douwe Blumberg came over to give Ginger a compliment.  He said, "Ginger this is great, you didn't miss anything; you've thought of every detail."   Later than night Ginger said to me, "Douwe came over to say thanks and I wasn't sure what to make of it.  Then I saw his plane and thought that may be the nicest compliment I've ever received."  If you've seen Douwe's Pietenpol, you'll understand.  That man created something special and for him to compliment Ginger on her attention to details is truly a kind and well thought out compliment.  Thanks Douwe.  We both appreciated it and we both love your plane.