One night over the holidays in Chicago, I was starting to get sick of hanging out with Lori all the time, so I picked up some beers and asked her brother if he wanted to party. He's a pilot, like me.
The night started off awesome. We bro'd down over vertical speed indicators and other general aviation stuff.
We discussed general flying technique. At some point I was like, "The new external nacelle chevrons on the Boeing 737 Max are so going to rock my world" and he was like "Hellz ye bro!" and we cheers'd.
He said, "Dude, the Millennium Falcon looks so much more complicated than a dual-engine aircraft" and I was like, "Man, but piloting Cessnas and other single-engine aircraft just seems way more precarious" and then we both just agreed that we're awesome.
Then we drank more beer.
At some point he told me that he thinks Wookiees look kind of like giant rabbits.
We don't, but I was okay with that.
The night progressed. Jack went out at some point to grab more beers, which was good, because he's taller than me.
We drank more.
As it got closer to dawn, I was like, "Man, you're still in aviation and that's so awesome, because I'm retired," and Jack started being like, "Dude, man, you got to be Han Solo's wingman and that must have been so awesome" and we cheers'd.
But then I had to be like, "Actually, I did most of the piloting. Han Solo mostly just drank and gambled a lot," and Jack was like "Whatever dude, you were still his wingman," so I was like "Whatever, dude, try flying in outer space sometime!"
Things got a bit heated after that so we did a fist-bump.
Then we headed outside to check out nature.
I might have passed out at some point. Or maybe I was just looking at the stars. I can't quite remember.
Back inside, Jack was like, "Look, Chew-man, I'm sorry for calling you a wingman, but you're a pilot and so you kind of are a wingman, but so am I, and that's okay."
He gave me a plastic flower. And another beer.
And I was like, "It's cool, man. Flying in the Earth's atmosphere is just as cool as flying in outer space."
After that we started talking about more general things, philosophy, life, the stars, etc.
I told him, "Sometimes it gets kind of lonely being the only wookiee on earth," and Jack kind of got it and was like, "Yeah, I get how that might feel."
Then he said, "But sometimes being up in the stratosphere gives me perspective," and I was like, "Yeah, I can definitely relate to that."
We both got lost in our respective trains of thought.
Then Jack said, "When you really think about life, we're kind of all flying alone but not really flying alone at the same time." So I said, "Yeah, it's like how I'm a wookiee, and you're a totally different species, but deep down we're still bros."
Then Jack exclaimed, "But none of that really matters, because we're bros!" And we both agreed that we're wingmen and that it's awesome.
And so we continued to bro down til the sun came up.
