Let’s Go Fly A Kite

I don't know why, but I've never had much luck with kites. 

My Dad bought us a box kite when my brother and I were kids. The design certainly didn't inspire confidence in its aerodynamic potential. Too much empty space and not enough fabric it seemed to me.

Our attempts to launch our kit-assembled prototype were most often met with short-lived flights followed by death-spiral crashes. It was all very ........ humbling.

Perhaps the point was to learn more from the crash than the launch.

"Children are like kites. You spend a lifetime trying to get them off the ground. You run with them until you are both breathless. They crash. You add a longer tail. You patch and comfort, adjust and teach. You assure them that someday they will fly. 

Finally, they are airborne. They need more string, and you keep letting it out. They tug, and with each twist of the twine, there is a sadness along with the joy. The kite becomes more distant and you know it won't be long before that beautiful creature will snap the lifeline that binds you together and they will soar as they are meant to soar...free and alone. Only then do you know you have done your job." – Erma Bombeck