Chapter 1 The Pilot & The Planner
Excitedly, I look through the notes from the author and learned so much about him. He was pilot for a major airline. He owned 3 vehicles. He was married. He took scrupulous notes, some of which were codes that I couldn’t decipher. One of my favorite entries is from the 11th of April 1992: “Peggy woke up with a cold. Grocery shop. Pick up taxes. Mail taxes. Jessica and I went swimming. Wash car and drive way. Cindy pick up JJ visit.” This wasn’t a planner, but more a recap of the day. It was literally a Captain’s Log. This pocket planner is no larger than 4” x 2.5”. As you can imagine, his penmanship was precise. Everything was written with what I would surmise as a mechanical pencil. The lines of his strokes being deliberate and very thin. The entries were brief but descriptive. As I flipped through, I felt as if I was reading a man’s diary. My mind’s eye slowly visualizing his day to day visits. His flights. His fishing trips. I had one whole year of learning what a day in the life of a pilot was. It was almost like a history lesson. How life had changed so much in only 3 decades.
I figured perhaps Mr. Pilot would like this item returned. Being that it was over 32 years old, he might get a kick out of it. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, Mr. Pilot passed away 22 years ago. I read the online obituary and it made mention of details that matched up with pocket planner. There was a step daughter… at this point I’m feeling pretty intrusive, but (back story here), my father passed away in August of 2022 and if someone were to approach me with a personal item of his I would be grateful and ecstatic. But that’s me. My feelings are intertwined with the deep relationship I had with my father. What if Mr. Pilot’s stepdaughter did not have the same connection? Persistence gave in to the best of me and I felt like I had to see this through. I look up Mr. Pilot’s Stepdaughter (Referred to know as MPS for brevity). All those Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books paid off with my amateur sleuthing skills. (Aaah, I know people born after 1985 are like “who’s Nancy Drew and Hardy what?”) The process of due diligence took over me as I had to look for a different last name. Not difficult since the obituary lists a lot of information. (*Mental note, for the sake of identity theft tell my children I do not want an obituary. They can thank me later.)
Alas! MPS is alive. And is a high level executive at a tech firm in Washington. OMG. I start getting excited. LinkedIn, here I come. Of course she’s more than six degrees to Kevin Bacon to me and I can’t direct message her until I subscribe to the premium version of LinkedIn. So annoying.
(Off topic – does anyone else remember playing that game Six Degrees to Kevin Bacon as kid? So much fun am I right? We didn’t need no stinking internet back in my day!)
So before I drop $40 on an app, just to contact MPS to return a 32 year old pocket planner that I’m not even sure she wants ….
My question to you is, should I even do it?
Is it intrusive? What if I am opening up old wounds? I have good intentions and truth be told, I’m only even entertaining this Mickey Mouse adventure because if the tables were turned I would want the pocket planner.
I’m going to think it over and get other’s opinions before jumping the gun. Maybe I’ll reach out after the 4th of July Holiday. If you’ve read this far (thank you) and I would appreciate it if you would leave a comment on what you think is the best plan of action.
Update – Grrr…. Now I feel morally obligated to reach out because of something I saw inside. I could just destroy it, put it in the shredder. But what if she wants it? Or maybe I should just mail it to her office with a note. I don’t know what to do.
TL;DR – found a 32 year old planner of a deceased pilot and want to return it to his stepdaughter. Should I do it?
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