Clean bill

I went to see the doctor to get my FAA exam this morning and came through just fine. It was the standard run down, height, weight, blood pressure, vision, hearing, piss in this cup please and leave it on the shelf.

The doc was awesome, a former pilot himself in at least his seventies, with an office covered in autographed airplane photos from pilots as far back as WWII. It was like a little aviation museum.

He sat in his white coat in his own waiting room and ignored me as I checked in and filled out the forms. Then, "Ok, let's do this," and very matter of factly ran me through the tests as he must have done it hundreds (thousands?) of times before. No small talk.

It was over in a few minutes. As the technician ran the urinalysis test, the doctor and I sat in silence together in the waiting room. I asked him how his day was, and he emerged from quiet reflection to say that after 35 straight years of 80 patients a day, it was now pretty quiet. I paid the bill, shook his hand, and said, "Thanks, Doc." He smiled and said, "Good luck with your flying, it's a lot of fun." And that was it.

BTW, my hearing is apparently exceptional and vision is 20/20, although I noticed one eye wasn't quite as clear on the smallest row of the chart. One thing about getting older is I really appreciate my healthy genes. Thanks, Mom and Dad.