The Smell of Funnel Cake and Freedom

Air Force Thunderbirds

My husband has always wanted to see an Air Show. Like many men, the sight of billion dollar aircraft doing fancy tricks has primal appeal. We have been married for 30 years, and every year he mentions it, and every year I say no. I finally got over my thing about wanting to go to Renaissance Fairs. I gave that up when I found out that instead of ten dollar churros, they have ten dollar turkey legs. In the past I have always clung to the irrational fear that if I did go to an Air Show, I would be in the crowd when something went terribly wrong and people were killed. But this time our neighbors were going and pointed out that this fear was ridiculous.  So we went to the Air Show at Point Mugu. The stars of the show were the Air Force Thunderbirds, who do some pretty fancy flying.

This is what I found out about air shows. There is actually a husband and wife act in which the husband flies a biplane, and his wife walks on the wing while he's doing all sorts of topsy turvy stunts. Now that's a marriage with trust. I also found out that if a show takes place near the beach, you wait for hours for the fog to clear. At one of the many breaks in the action, a large bird took the "center stage." It hovered and did all the tricks that the aircraft were doing. The crowd burst into applause. This was my favorite part of the whole show. I also learned that during breaks you eat a lot, and if you're me, that means a lot of funnel cake. (I would have been better off with turkey legs.) 

There was a man seated next to us who was an ex-marine and a real air show regular. When he found out I was an air show "virgin," he took me under his wing (pun intended) and explained everything to me. When the planes buzzed close, and I had to put my fingers in my ears, he yelled, "That's the sound of FREEDOM!" When they did a simulated bombing run and there was a wall of flame and waves of heat, he yelled, "That's the smell of FREEDOM!"

Frankly, I was mostly interested in the smell of the funnel cakes, but his testosterone-fueled enthusiasm and his genuine patriotism did make me think. The thinking was much worse than the deafening sound of the engines. I was thinking what freedom really does sound and smell like. I was thinking of the young men and women out there operating these machines in dangerous places. I was thinking that no matter how precise the aircraft is, bombs or bullets cannot differentiate between a terrorist or a civilian or a mother or child. I was thinking about how war never ends. I was thinking that I could never craft a light-hearted blog out of this experience, but I knew I had to write about it to relieve the pressure in my brain. If I didn't, some tabloid would have a true headline reading: Woman's Head Explodes At Air Show.

My husband agreed that it was our first and last air show. I wish I could say the same about funnel cake...