Ultralight dreams

Luis Francisco Ponce de León Jiménez is an eighty-year old spanish citizen that is back on the college classrooms, looking for a degree on International Relations, after a plentyful life devoted to knowledge and achieving the completion of ten different university courses along the way.

So, what is the secret for a happy and long fruitful life?

Pursuing our dreams, I imagine, is part of the answer.

The other, as Clint Eastwood, the last of the classic filmmakers, wisely pointed out to Toby Keith is "to just get up every morning and go out. And don't let the old man in."

I'm nowhere near in the same league as this fabulous 93-year old and still active movie director, but I think I can see his point. Keep challeging ourselves through life, keep pushing foward, is the shortest route to a meaningful one. Regardless of our age.

To me, achieving the ultralight aircraft pilot certificate at the already generous age of 53, as modest objectiv as may be for many, was a moment of unquestionable personal satisfaction. So, Clint and Luis are absolutely right. Nearing my mid-fifties and I managed to turn a childhood dream into reality. And, whatahell, it only took forty years.

In the photo, the BRM Land Africa, CS-UVE, with Student-Pilot Francisco Mendes and Pilot-Instructor Paulo Pereira, takes off from runway 15, in Benavente airfield, Ribatejo, Portugal, on a peaceful early March afternoon.

Picture taken, handheld, with Nikon D40-X and Nikon Nikkor 55-200mm AF-S DX VR Zoom F4-5.6G IF-ED cheap kit lens. Light post-processing in Adobe Photoshop CS6.