Thursday, September 11, 2014

Doubting Thomas

Who would ever stick someone with the name Thomas, aka Tom? The name should be removed from the baby book of names, as it has developed several negative connotations through the centuries. I am sure anyone with this saintly name has been teased by one or more of these renditions of Tom. I know I have. Today, while passing the Chalice of Debriefing around the LZ, I was reminded of the founder of the disenfranchised name, Apostle Thomas. May this story be a heads up to all future parents: put some thought into the name please.

Just in case you've never heard, here's the short list just to give you my life as Thom:
Tom Thumb - Due to being vertically challenged, I was teased with this ditty all through school.
Tom Turkey - A male turkey, enough said.
Tom Cat - I will let you look up the definition for this one, but I got voted class flirt in high school.
Tom Foolery - While looking this one up I found that the origin was from a Court Jester, Thomas Skelton, whose silly antics were to amuse the king. See Alex? That is why I wear the silly socks.
Tom Boy - Even the girls didn't escape a Tom labeling.
Tom, Dick & Harry - I had to really screen any potential room mates.
Peeping Tom - This one skipped me, but Alex, whose real first name is David … or is it?
I had told Alex that I had to pick up Woody today and bring him home, and we should be in Kahana around 12:30. I asked him to keep me posted on the conditions, but sometimes he tends to always say it's flyable, or promise that I'll get a flight, and as his record shows, he doesn't miss many days.

Woody arrived on time and we were off. A look at the numbers around the island did not make Kahana very enticing, and we hadn't heard from Alex … yet, so we went to Costco. No, Ginny, I did not get eggs (that's another story). We then sidestepped to my house to drop off the groceries. JK and Laura stopped by and we chatted, glancing at the sensors every few minutes of course, then wishing we hadn't.

It was time to take Woody home, and we got a text from Alex: How are you guys doing, wind is better. Woody checked the sensor, and it had gone from far, far east to just far east. We both snickered, but I said, Woody, you know he's going to want to fly no matter what, so don't let him talk me into it. Alex was already at the landing zone, pacing. We texted him back to say that we were almost at Woody's to drop supplies off, and we would stop by the LZ to drop off something for Dorothy.

Alex was perplexed, as he indicated with the next text: What do you mean stop by, are you not flying? I looked at Woody. Can you believe it? He really thinks it's good. Then the next text: Maybe I misunderstood. Should I go ahead and start hiking? I laughed as we passed Waiahole, looking at the stagnant grass, trees and bushes. He can't be serious. But we both knew he was. Again, I asked Woody for help holding me back when Alex tried to cajole me up the hill.

We arrived at the parking lot to find Jorge and Allegra. Oh, my god, he dragged Jorge out here for this, seriously? But we found out Jorge and Allegra had gone surfing all day. So now there was Alex, hat on, gear ready to go, chomping at the bit. I looked at Jorge. Even he snickered: Yeah Thom, it's perfect, you should go. He was kidding of course, but my addiction is pretty bad, and I started to feel almost the same as Alex. The cats paws on the bay weren't too bad, and the clouds were not coming that far from the back, and I need the exercise. I lasted about 10 seconds in the parking lot before I had my smurf blue socks on, gear on my back. I couldn't look Woody in the eye.

I was shocked when we got to launch. There were steady flows coming up, good ones too. Surprisingly, Alex was first in the air, but as we all know, just because Alex is up doesn't mean we'll get up. Still doubting the day and Alex's forecast, I geared up for a flight. It beats hiking down.

Now both of us were in the air, and the sensors had actually clocked around to magical numbers as we soared up and up. Sorry I didn't post, but I was not going to be the one to TomFool anyone up here while I was on launch. Jorge had driven Woody home from the LZ, and said: those guys are crazy, it's not flyable. Woody checked the numbers, got his gear, and was on the trail as Alex and I crossed the bay for the first leg.

Ok, now I believed, because I was feeling this air, looking around at the gorgeous land we live in, and my
only thought was: I should have gotten here earlier. We boated out to Chinaman's Hat, and both of us peeked at the Pyramid. It looked doable all the way to Makapuu, if you ignored the clouds that were thick and grey and low. Alex said: you know Mad Dog would go. Well then, at least he was named appropriately.

We flew back, and Woody joined us for a jaunt over to Punaluu. We were skimming cloud bellies and climbing alongside them like monkeys on vines. What a day, and I almost didn't go. We headed back over to Kahana, got another easy climb, and all headed across the bay. Woody has an XC machine now. Alex and I think he's getting the XC bug. Thankfully, Woody does not have an addictive personality, and never aspires to be perfect with any of his exploits. Ha ha ha, I am already foreseeing my name dropping in the ranks. That I won't doubt.

We all landed with ease, me with my tail wagging but slightly between my legs as I approached Alex. Thanks man, for making me go up. It was sweet, and I'll never doubt you again.

So when the President says: It's Time To Fly, Get Your Gear and Go … don't be a Doubting Thomas!!!!!!!!



Alex's pics

1 comment:

sandy said...

Yeah Thom, I'm sure we'll never find any indian burn marks on your arm from Alex's undoubtedly overbearing attempts to induce you to fly ... he's the evangelist and you're a devoted disciple, and Woody's the baptist ... glad you went for it :-) !!