Kite-Flying Memories

Thanks to a comment from Christy's Aunt Marilyn, I remembered another Fite-Klying story that I will share with you now:

Besides a ghastly teapot from Gloria Gaither, the most unusual gifts that Christy and I received for our wedding were two Star Wars kites. They were from two buddies from college, Pat Hannon and Ryan Prinkey. The odd thing about it was that they did not conspire in this. Neither knew what the other had planned. Heck, Prinkey was barely even in the country at the time. He was doing an internship in Washington D.C. that semester, but gave strict instructions to his mother about what must be included in our wedding present.

One very windy, very gusty day shortly after our wedding, I said to Christy, "We should totally go fly one of those Star Wars kites!" but Christy was doubtful. "Don't you think it's too windy to fly a kite" she questioned. "Too Windy?" I scoffed, "How could it possibly be too windy to fly a kite?" So out we went. We lived just a few blocks away from the Anderson University campus and we figured the practice soccer fields would provide plenty of room away from power lines to fly the kite. It wasn't particularly cold that day, but with the wind blowing so hard, it felt a lot colder than it was, especially after we walked to campus.

Though I still believed that it couldn't be too windy to fly a kite, I was nearly convinced that it could be too windy to assemble a kite. But we persevered and finally got the kite ready to launch. We tried a few times with Christy holding the kite and me holding the string which didn't seem to be working, so we switched so that Christy was holding the string and I was downwind holding the kite. It may have been the first time that I tried to launch, but it was certainly the last. I was holding the kite in front of my chest and let it go. The kite found the wind, shot straight up, hit me square in the chin. As I mentioned, it felt much colder than it was due to the wind. You know how those parts that are exposed to the cold really hurt when struck? Well getting hit in the chin by a speeding kite was enough to knock me to the ground just before the wind shredded the kite.

Moral of the story: It can be too windy to fly a kite (a.k.a. Listen to your wife)


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