Sometimes you need to ‘press pause’

[derg]

This isn’t a post where I’m looking for sympathy or find myself face-down in a bowl of red wine blowing bubbles but a quick reminder about how fast life goes.

I literally just thought about this guy a few weeks ago and was wondering if he was still around or retired, and I got the email about his death today, but he had died last month.

Fantastic person, funny, brash at times and other times you’d talk about existentialism and have a great time with him on the layover. Just kind of a barrel-chested Cajun that you’d never flew F-15’s and had an engineering degree because, as he said, “That was 20 years and 20 pounds ago”. He’d often buddy-bid with his flight attendant wife. I’ve flown with them a bunch back on the 767 and they were great on layovers. I remember drinking some Rioja in Spain with them and one of the new hire flight attendants said “Do they take dollars here? My instructor said that the pilots would normally pay for everything so I didn’t bring any money”. Jay looked at his wife, his wife said “Let me walk to you to an ATM machine” and the way it all went down was one of the most hilarious things I’d seen in years.

So when they broke up and got divorced, he even made that into a morbidly funny situation… “I just bought her new teeth, a boob job, then she left me, goldangit!”

I knew and liked them both, independently, so I just stayed out of “it” when it all started going south.

Keep in touch with people, life goes quick especially as you roll into your 50’s. I’m guilty of not being good at keeping in touch because I don’t have a sense of time, but don’t make my same mistakes. Remember, the last time you laugh really hard with a friend, it might be the last time, so savor! Take the chance to just stop and just look at your friends for a few moments after saying goodbye because that might be it.

DL Capt. Jay Escude

~ IN MEMORY ~ USAF veteran, DL Capt. Jay Escude June 5, 1959 ~ September 24, 2026 Jay joined Delta Air Lines 06-25-1990. He is...

pcnflightwest.blogspot.com

 

[Pilot Fighter]

This isn’t a post where I’m looking for sympathy or find myself face-down in a bowl of red wine blowing bubbles but a quick reminder about how fast life goes.

I literally just thought about this guy a few weeks ago and was wondering if he was still around or retired, and I got the email about his death today, but he had died last month.

Fantastic person, funny, brash at times and other times you’d talk about existentialism and have a great time with him on the layover. Just kind of a barrel-chested Cajun that you’d never flew F-15’s and had an engineering degree because, as he said, “That was 20 years and 20 pounds ago”. He’d often buddy-bid with his flight attendant wife. I’ve flown with them a bunch back on the 767 and they were great on layovers. I remember drinking some Rioja in Spain with them and one of the new hire flight attendants said “Do they take dollars here? My instructor said that the pilots would normally pay for everything so I didn’t bring any money”. Jay looked at his wife, his wife said “Let me walk to you to an ATM machine” and the way it all went down was one of the most hilarious things I’d seen in years.

So when they broke up and got divorced, he even made that into a morbidly funny situation… “I just bought her new teeth, a boob job, then she left me, goldangit!”

I knew and liked them both, independently, so I just stayed out of “it” when it all started going south.

Keep in touch with people, life goes quick especially as you roll into your 50’s. I’m guilty of not being good at keeping in touch because I don’t have a sense of time, but don’t make my same mistakes. Remember, the last time you laugh really hard with a friend, it might be the last time, so savor! Take the chance to just stop and just look at your friends for a few moments after saying goodbye because that might be it.

DL Capt. Jay Escude

~ IN MEMORY ~ USAF veteran, DL Capt. Jay Escude June 5, 1959 ~ September 24, 2026 Jay joined Delta Air Lines 06-25-1990. He is...

pcnflightwest.blogspot.com

Interesting reference to sense of time.

Sometimes, I think it’s been a year since I’ve seen my sister when it’s been more than two.

Sometimes, I think that it’s been a couple of years since I’ve seen a good friend and I’m surprised that’s it’s been five years or more.

Part of it is sense of time but I think the shocking thing is that a couple years for folks in their 50’s ans 60’s can be all of the time. A painful divorce, a cancer diagnosis, a stretch of depression and its frequent companion.

I’m blessed that I have pretty good genetics, surfing that Type II borderline but otherwise in good heath. Good chance I’ll carry on bit too long.

The last few years, so many friends and peers have been freed from this mortal coil without ample warning.

I’m thankful that my Naval Officer dad and hippie-chick mom normalized “I love you” in daily interactions. It makes unexpected departures a little easier.