CAVU

When you are sick, you start thinking about the people who have had an impact on your life.  There are the easy ones: my fourth grade teacher.  She was one the first one to teach me a quote.  "Today is the first day of the rest of your life."  It was on her board the first day of school.  There are others who are permanent influences: my parents, my husband and son, college roommates and friends.  But then there are people who touch your life for an instant and somehow are in your memory, forever guiding you.


I met a Guy.  To be honest, 20 plus years later, I can't even remember his name.  I met him when I was in my 20's.  I went with a friend to the island of St. Thomas for a long weekend. Now, I know you think when I say I met I guy you know what I mean, but this wasn't anything like that! 

On the island trip, my friend and I decided to take a day sail.  The guy owned the boat with his wife and he took us out for the day into the most beautiful waters and sunshine I have ever seen.  He was a retired Navy pilot.  And although he was tan, healthy and very strong, I thought he was ancient at the time.  Looking back, I think he was 40 something.  He had done 20 years in the military as a pilot and retired.  He and his wife were hanging around the island and occasionally taking tourists on day sails. 

My friend laid on the deck and soaked in the sun.  I remember thinking talking to him was a lot more interesting.  We sat and talked for a few hours and he told me his story.  He told how he had dreamed of flying growing up and the work he had done to make it a reality.  He loved flying.  He also loved sailing.   After his military career, he and his wife decided to sell their house, leave their families, give up everything and follow his next dream of sailing around the Caribbean. 
 
This ex-pilot taught me an acronym, CAVU.  Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited.  It is a term that military pilots use, he told me.  I think it was the name of his boat.  But I couldn't even swear to that.   We talked about CAVU.  He told me to think about it as being able to see forever into the distance.  For me in looking at his life I decided it was a fitting description for a code that he lived that meant anything is possible.  I imagined that freedom you get when you are above the clouds in a plane and thought about how cool it must be for a pilot who is there alone.   I thought about the sheer size of the sky.   I thought about life as a blank slate you get to create it on your own. 


I admired him.  He took risks to do what he thought would make him happy.  He is in my thoughts even years afterward.  I think of CAVU every few weeks or month when I think about accepting change and being willing to take risks to get what I want.

I grew up in a pretty conventional suburban life.   For college, I wanted to go to California Santa Cruz.  My parents promptly said no.  I even think they went so far as to say a few more emphatic and choice words.  So I graduated from high school a year early and went to work.  A year later, my uncle called and said, "go to Miami of Ohio.  It's a good school and conservative enough your parents will pay for it.  You'll get a good education. "   I adored my uncle (he was the one in California I wanted to go to school to be near).  So I applied to one and only one school and went off to Miami of Ohio.   By the time I was sailing around the Caribbean I had changed schools and graduated from Northwestern University (it was a little less conservative).

On the boat, hearing someone talk about being daring enough to have a dream to be a pilot, be one and then later in life to have another dream, a totally different dream of living and sailing really shook me up.  That night as we sailed back into port, we watched dolphins swim around the boat.

 I remember walking off his boat and the next day going shopping for jewelry.  I was bound and determined to find the perfect dolphin charm to wear on a chain.  I went to 7 or 8 stores looking.  My friend got irritated that I wouldn't "just buy one already".  It had to be something that I could see myself wearing forever.  I found it, at the last store.  And I immediately christened the charm, CAVU.  It is gold, with a single sparkling diamond in the eye.  I wear it today.  

CAVU is a token that I wear in my life that reminds me that anything is possible.  All it take is courage and the conviction to make choices and take risks to make my dreams a reality. My Ceiling and Visibility is Unlimited.