Michael Matthews:  

The picture is me in a B-17 I was fortunate enough to get a ride in. One of my students is a volunteer for the foundation that keeps these historic aircraft in the air. I drove up to Phoenix, met with all of the pilots and ground crew and flew back to Tucson sitting right in the nose. Perhaps a few of you are familiar with the Movie "The Best Years of our Lives."? I sat there in the nose watching the landscape disappear underneath me and reflected on the many turns and twists of my own life and the lives of those I love. Somebody up there likes me. I always wanted to be a Pilot when I was young in those tropical days. Some of my family and friends thought that was a great idea. They supported me at every turn, especially when I had those moments of doubt. There were others who thought I would never do it. Perhaps they don't have faith in themselves, in any case they were wrong. I remember working on my Flight Instructor rating and how difficult it was to come up with the money, time and determination to get it done. On the Centennial of Flight, after a practice flight in the late afternoon with the sun setting, I was listening to NPR. They were interviewing a woman flight instructor in her 90's(!) who had actually known the Wright Brothers. She was still instructing, still had her health, her eyes were good and she was giving the interviewer his 1st lesson. You couuld tell she loved what she was doing. And that in her heart and soul she was as young as her body was old. I knew then I was going to succeed. It couldn't have been an accident that I heard this inspiring story at just the right moment. Within the month I had my rating and a job as a flight instructor and have been doing it since. If you have faith even the size of a mustard seed....... I only wish I had know this earlier on. I am 56 now (and a 1/2:-), it is never too late. Well, now I'm 60 and lately become aware that there are less days ahead than behind. I now own the flight school and have renamed it Marana Flight School. I am the Chief pilot and have one other instructor working for me. It's Thanksgiving 2012 and Christmas seeming like a lick away. I try to slow down time by taking my dog for a walk twice a day and really looking at trees and sky. I play the guitar each day and improve a little. Well, now I'm 63 and the past 3 years have been the most eventful of my life. The business has been flourishing(so far) and in the middle of the economic downturn, it seems miraculous. I've recently gone from 1 airplane to three and 1 office to 2 with 4 times the room and evening ground school classes forming, and more and more connections. It's really all quite unbelievable! The friends I have made on the field have made it possible for me to be able to take an occasional day off. My pass rate on student practical tests is well over 95% and I gotta tell you, the early morning flights over the desert and the desert mountains is something I never get tired of. I have recently sold almost all of my steel stringed guitars and replaced them with classical guitars(nylon strings). My hands(along with the rest of me) just can't take the kind of tension and pressure they used to be able to. I was alway proud of the strength in my hands and thankfully the dexterity has not failed me as badly. I wake up each da...Expand for more