A Curious Find...
Of course it's aviation related, duh!
My mother was always an advocate for garage sales. If she had some petty cash and a free Saturday afternoon we would turn toward the signs welcoming us to buy their junk. We never had anything in mind to buy, but we always came across that ONE thing that set off the dopamine receptors. Inevitably, those things ended up as junk too.
Recently, my daughter had a school book and like her dad, she enjoyed the books with vibrant colors and pop-out illustrations. Now as a grown man, book fairs are nothing more than a way for money to escape my wallet. However, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a box with an airplane illustration on the front. With my childlike wonder, I gravitated to the table to discover a deck of cards called ”50 Things to Spot at the Airport”.
If you’ve been here before or not, I love aviation. There’s nothing more interesting in the world than metal tubes with jet engines strapped on them. Something as minuscule as children's learning cards can spark excitement, and in this addition to An Ethusiant’s Log, I want to highlight this curious find.
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Let’s dive in!
Childlike Wonder
Out of the fuss and muss from being a father to daughter, I learned that child-like wonder is infectious. How can it not be? As adults, we seek stability and normalcy out of our efforts to survive and provide. Sometimes it seems like most things that children find entertaining are annoying, but out of the colorful nonsense, you discover some hidden gems that move you as an adult. Things such as Bluey or Shrieff Callie (hee-yaw!), also these cards I found, 50 Things to Spot at the Airport.
The front of the card depicts anything you would find at your typical international airport: a luggage cart, a belt loader, a wing walker, and a visual docking guiding system. Whoever worked on this product was detailed in their approach— who would consider a visual docking guide system in a children’s learning guide?
The back of the card provided context and details about the spotted airport item. In the example below the 4-engine aircraft card is unique because it points out how the A340 is the longest aircraft in service. The A340 doesn’t get much love like the 747 or A380 so I am impressed the creator highlighted that.
Polish Your Eyeballs
I always like to include a piece of thought we can carry into our lives in each addition to this Substack, and in this addition, it would utilize your childhood wonder. I look at my daughter and think “How does she have so much energy? What keeps her going?”. The answer that I always seem to come back to is curiosity.
As we grow older we work for things that make money, advance careers, or have societal significance. These are all important things to consider but we can lose the curiosity that turned us into success-driven individuals. Bills, responsibilities, deadlines, taxes, and DEATH litter our minds when we should stop and smell the grass, make a mud pie, and though I don’t recommend it—eat a booger. This quirky find reminded it could be time to reconnect with that part of us. What better way to start than an interactive aviation spotter card deck?