Oh, these are the days...

I love to tell the tale of the time I dated the blimp pilot. Whenever a too long pause occurs in a conversation, I'm likely to spout "Hey, did you know I used to work for Dan Quayle" or "Did I ever tell you about the blimp pilot I dated?"

A guy so well known to his Royal Air Force comrades for being shot down repeatedly during the Falkland Island War, his nickname became Russell "Mayday" Mills. Soon after we began dating, Russell and his friend, Fritz (who I had set up with my then roommate Pam) lost pressure and Russell had to crash land in a soccer field near our apartment.

This story is additionally funny because that Sunday we had planned a dinner with my parents, something we were concerned about (Russell was quite a bit older than I) and you cannot get better fodder for stories than your boyfriend on the front page of Newsday courtesy of a big color picture of the downed blimp. Turns out my parents were more concerned with the fact he was English than our age difference. (Note for new readers: I'm married to a younger man, mea culpa!)

So a friend YIMs me, turns out she was verifying some information with regards to a light craft accident (she's in insurance) and decided to run a search on the blimp crash, because with all honesty, she just didn't believe my story.

Here it is.

Enjoy

( NTSB Glory )

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?ev_id=20001206X02328&ntsbno=NYC94FA176&akey=1

Pardon me now while I do the "I told you so" dance.