I Flew Over Provincetown

I grew up in Massachusetts and spent a lot of time on Cape Cod. As an adult I moved to the midwest, but my heart will always be on the East Coast.

One of my favorite childhood memories involves a family trip to Provincetown which, if you know anything about Cape Cod, you know is at the very tip of the Cape. I was probably around 6 years old at the time and, if you ask my parents they will tell you that I was a very stubborn and willful child.

My parents decided that it would be something very special to take a sight-seeing airplane ride over the Cape. It all sounded like a lot of fun and I remember being very excited…until we arrived at the little airport. As soon as I saw that tiny little propeller plane I decided there was no way in the world I was getting on that thing.

My parents ignored my protests, thinking they could convince me to do it. They went ahead and purchased the tickets and we stood in line waiting for our turn. I kept telling them that I was not going to do it. They kept ignoring me.

Soon it was our turn to board the plane. As my father grabbed my hand and tried to walk forward I realized that I was going to have to pull out all the stops in order to make my point. I threw the biggest, loudest, most dramatic temper tantrum of my life right there in the middle of that little airport. I was so adamant that I was not going to do this that my parents had to let another family go ahead of us while they worked on convincing me to get on that plane.

They begged. They pleaded. They tried to reason with me. Nothing was working. Finally my mother spotted a bright yellow T-shirt in the gift shop. Across the front of the shirt it said "I Flew Over Provincetown" in bright blue letters. My mother pointed to the shirt and promised to buy it for me if I got on the plane. I must have really loved that shirt because as soon as I saw it I agreed to take the flight.

When it was our turn we got on the plane and had our 15 minute flight over Cape Cod. After landing and getting off the plane I decided that I had enjoyed it so much that I looked at my parents and asked "Can we do that again?"

They never let me live that down.