someday I'll fly away / leave all this to yesterday

Yesterday I took my recyclables to the closest city facility, which happens to be at Ellington Field. It was gray, overcast, and drizzling. The cloud ceiling was probably around 200 feet. As I started throwing the cans into the dumpster, I heard the typical airplane roar behind me as something took off from Ellington. It was loud enough that I figured it had to be one of the jets. I turned and looked up just in time to see an F-16 roar off the runway and quickly disappear into the clouds, shock diamonds visible in the exhaust of the afterburner. It was so cool that I actually exclaimed out loud in the drizzle in the empty recycling parking lot.

I ran to the car for my camera, because the F-16s (belonging to the Air National Guard) often take off in groups of four. But alas, not yesterday. There was only the one.