Today seems like a good day to write about memories. For a number of reasons, actually. If this were some point 33 or so years ago, my best friend and I would be celebrating his birthday. From those long ago teenage years, very little remains; a few photographs, two small paintings, a beloved wooden box. But I have memories, and I cherish them as if they were gold.
From a few years later, I do have a book, though perhaps not the original. This was an unexpected gift from my stepfather, my Dad. It isn't much, "Fighters of World War II" by Charles W. Cain and Mike Jerram. It's actually a compilation from the "Profiles" series of books, something many hobbyists and aircraft enthusiasts were fond of.
Dad was just returning from a trip to Connecticut, just prior to the beginning of my senior year at Sandalwood High School, I reckon August of 1980. It was really unexpected; he just walked up and handed it to me.
I loved it.
Between the covers were the basic histories of fifteen different aircraft, specific models and variants in fact. I had planned to build each and everyone of them in miniature, 1/48 scale.
I had to put it off, though, so I could salvage my sagging grades and graduate on time. I managed to build two of the aircraft by the end of 1982, more than two years later.
As much as I loved the book, I had to relinquish it. We needed to eat, I had racked up a huge dental bill and our lives were from paycheck to paycheck. Many of my books, including this one, were sold just so we could eat.
It was last year that I stumbled across this one at Chamblin's Bookmine here in Jacksonville. Incredibly, there is a chance that this one may indeed be my copy; there are erasure marks were I am certain I wrote my name way back in 1980.
Perhaps I am wrong.
I was certainly pleased to locate it again, even if it isn't the original. It is something I wished I never let go to begin with, but now that I have it again, I would certainly like another crack at those aircraft.
Thanks, Dad.
From a few years later, I do have a book, though perhaps not the original. This was an unexpected gift from my stepfather, my Dad. It isn't much, "Fighters of World War II" by Charles W. Cain and Mike Jerram. It's actually a compilation from the "Profiles" series of books, something many hobbyists and aircraft enthusiasts were fond of.
Dad was just returning from a trip to Connecticut, just prior to the beginning of my senior year at Sandalwood High School, I reckon August of 1980. It was really unexpected; he just walked up and handed it to me.
I loved it.
Between the covers were the basic histories of fifteen different aircraft, specific models and variants in fact. I had planned to build each and everyone of them in miniature, 1/48 scale.
I had to put it off, though, so I could salvage my sagging grades and graduate on time. I managed to build two of the aircraft by the end of 1982, more than two years later.
As much as I loved the book, I had to relinquish it. We needed to eat, I had racked up a huge dental bill and our lives were from paycheck to paycheck. Many of my books, including this one, were sold just so we could eat.
It was last year that I stumbled across this one at Chamblin's Bookmine here in Jacksonville. Incredibly, there is a chance that this one may indeed be my copy; there are erasure marks were I am certain I wrote my name way back in 1980.
Perhaps I am wrong.
I was certainly pleased to locate it again, even if it isn't the original. It is something I wished I never let go to begin with, but now that I have it again, I would certainly like another crack at those aircraft.
Thanks, Dad.
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