Last Flight: A Personal Journey through the Quad City Air Show

You would think after years of going to the same event you would get bored of it. I remember a few years that I was. But this year was different, something about me was different. The day of the Quad City Air Show was a cloudless day, full sun, incredibly humid, and terribly hot. It was possibly the worst weather to be out all day in. But, none the less, I was incredibly excited. It was the last Quad City Air Show, possibly ever, and my Dad, Papa, and Uncle Marvin decided to take myself and my best friend Lauren of twelve years to it.

This Air Show was special to me for more than just because it was the last one, just a few days before my best friend Victoria had left to join the Air Force. Her leaving was very hard on me, I didn’t really know what to do after she left and I don’t know if I know what to do now. Victoria and I didn’t know each other very long, but we became very close very quickly. Going to the Air Show with Lauren really made me feel less alone with Victoria gone. I never really got to hang out with Lauren very often anymore, her parents can be a bit strict and she spends as much of her free time as possible with her boyfriend. Her being able to go to something that was so special to me meant the world.

We both got pictures next to a plane that was painted to look like a shark. When we were wandering around, we saw that there was an Air Force recruitment trailer, and the only way to describe it is incredible. First off, it was air conditioned, but there was also different games you could play and a virtual reality game where you could fly a plane and collect points. And even though I knew that all the games were strategy games and the only point was to see who would be good candidates to recruit, it was extremely fun, Lauren and myself must have spent at least an hour in there, if not