While in Seattle, I celebrated a milestone of a friend’s life vision. From 4th grade through my first year at Penn State, Hunter Ware was a best bud. On Thursday became the commanding officer of an aircraft carrier attack squadron. As I watched them unveil his newly titled plane at the change of command ceremony, I reminisced on the birth of his successful career as a jet-jock. I was there when we walked out of the first showing of Top Gun. Can you imagine two week-kneed high school punks in awe of Tom Cruise’s “need for speed?” We quickly adopted the signature high-five move.
Hunter didn’t get into the Naval Academy on is first attempt. But I watched him reorder his life in order to pursue this dreams with even greater intensity. Even our favorite arcade game that year was “Afterburner,” which was funded with my cafeteria points. The next year he made it into the academy. Over the 4 years of training, many of his colleagues wanted to fly jets, but few found to the cockpit. Sure enough, after the academy, Hunter was selected for Pensacola for the next stage of his supersonic dream.
Twenty years later he is still flyin- and in charge of his squadron. The spark I saw ignite in that crazy, feel-good movie is still in his eye.
What spark is in yours?
Here’s to Hunter Ware, a great buddy and now CO “Tupper.”