Keeping In Touch With What’s Really Important

by Emma Satter

I heard about this site because my mother and her friend decided to make it one day. They sit down and work on it together, I help them out sometimes. I think it is a great idea and I have a story that I would like to share.

I am a regular teenage girl, and like many others I have a facebook, a cell phone, an ipod, and I’m always connected to something. I found out that life’s not about the things you have, the clothes you wear, or how popular you are at school, it’s really about how much time you spend with your family. My story is from a few years back on my birthday. My grandpa has an airplane that he keeps in a hanger, and we sometimes go flying. For my birthday he told me that we were going to go for a ride. So I got ready for a ride and maybe a nice breakfast, I got my phone and everything else I thought I was going to need and went to my grandpa’s house.

As we left the house to go to his hanger, I noticed that he seemed a lot happier than usual, almost as if he knew something that I didn’t. When we got to the hanger we opened the doors and pushed the airplane out. He helped me get buckled in, and we started up the engine and made sure everything was working properly. As we taxied down the runway I concentrated on the stick and the rudder pedals, for I wanted to become a pilot, just like my grandpa. We got to the end of the runway and we lifted off, into the sky we went. We flew around, and I got to fly the plane for a while, then it was time to land. My grandpa took over and got us safely to the ground.

Emma and her Grandpa, Tom Weidlich in his
PT-17 WWII Stearman Trainer

Usually we land at a nice little airport with a little café in it. This time it was a little tiny dirt runway with a few glider planes parked there. The building that was there looked kind of like a shack but bigger. When I took my belts off and got out of the plane, my grandpa started explaining what the little glider planes were and what they did, I learned that they have no engine at all, and you ride the wind currents to stay in the air. I was really interested by this and was wondering what it would be like to fly one, when all of the sudden my grandpa said “how would you like to ride in one of those?”

I was confused and wondered if he was serious or not and as we walked up to the building an instructor came out and shook my hand. My grandpa explained what was going on and he said “happy birthday Emma!” I got to fly the glider, and it was amazing. There are no distractions, no phones, no facebook, no drama, no nothing. Just you and the instructor having the time of your life. I flew the whole time and I even landed it.


This was kind of a life changing experience for me, because this made me realize that material things aren’t what life’s all about. It’s the family and friends you surround yourself with, so maybe next time you pick up the phone, or go to log in to facebook, instead maybe read a book or spend time with your family and learn a few things about what’s really important to you.
Thanks for reading (:
Emma