“I flew!” Roli crawled out of the small Cessna airplane after his first flight shouting with glee! “I flew. I flew. My dream came true.”
Roli has been dreaming about flying for years. And begging everyone in sight to take him flying. He is fascinated with space and all things aeronautic. Because of severe emotional instability Roli has missed many things including the fact that his mental/emotional illness has made it hard to find a family that can manage his behavior. And sometimes-even things like trips to the Black Sea are impossible for him. When Roli ‘melts down’ it takes trained staff to handle him. So last week Ovi decided it was time to make his dream of flying come true.
There wasn’t a cloud in the sky or a breathe of wind when we arrived at a small airfield outside
Arad. There on the grass was 4 person Cessna with pilot waiting for us – and in typical Ovi
fashion something else, an ultra light. Two pilots, one hour, $350 from the Grant a Wish program.
Roli’s wish was about to come true.
Ovi, Cara, Mariana from Amy’s House and Maria from Darius House joined Roli, Petre, Adina, Nicoleta, and even Claudiu!
Now, you might ask, as several more rational people did, whether or not it was a good idea to take kids like Roli and Claudiu flying in a small plane and even much smaller flying wing! But Ovi pointed out that if we never take a risk for them and with them our kids will never get to do anything special. And he was right!
Words did not fail Roli when the flights were over. He rather eloquently described it as the “Best day of my life! It was better than good it was fantastic. And I won’t have to go again because I will never forget it.”
RCE doesn’t just make mercy happen. We make dreams come true. Sometimes. Claudiu nervously – finally – decided to go up in the ultra light only to give the pilot a quick thumbs down. But he didn’t panic! He faced his fear and did not panic. We were all so proud of him. God is so good and His love for our kids was blindingly evident for everyone to see, including the pilots who were amazed at the kids and very gentle with them.