Tour of a Cockpit

When Jeff was young, we lived in Colorado and his dad lived in Kentucky. Once he turned five, he could fly on a plane by himself to travel between our homes. I'm not sure that I'd ever allow that today, but at the time, it worked for us. Though it would never be allowed in today's climate, I could put him on the plane, buckle him in, and arrange all of his 'stuff' so that he could reach it. We packed him snacks, a book, a coloring book and crayons, and several Hot Wheels cars. Jeff loved it. He felt SO big.

On one such trip, as I was putting Jeff on the plane, the pilot had just finished his pre-flight inspection and asked if Jeff would like a tour of the cockpit. Jeff of course, said yes. I had never seen the inside of a cockpit either and thought it would be very interesting. After showing us around, the pilot asked Jeff if he wanted to work on planes one day. Jeff grinned really big and said, "Yeah!" So, the pilot asked him if he wanted to fix 'em or fly 'em. Jeff said, and I quote, "I wanna wash 'em!"

The pilot was completely speechless. He had obviously never received that response before. All I could think of was, "Aim high, little guy!"