In the early days of our marriage, pre-children, Lisa and I would watch TV downstairs at the house on Miller Street in Cortland, New York and go up to bed and snuggle until we drifted off to sleep. In those days I was fortunate to drift off to sleep quickly.
One night, as I slipped between consciousness and slumber, for no reason whatsoever, I blurted out,
"Tell Orville and Wilbur I said hello."
Lisa immediately shot up in bed incredulous. Caught completely off guard by me talking in my sleep, something I have only done a few occasions, Lisa burst out laughing. The non-sequitur truly came from some other level of consciousness and had nothing anchored in the real world or the days events. And so it became a term of endearment, "Tell Orville and Wilbur I said hello", would be thrown into a conversation or used for a giggle as we went to bed.
The other day I finally got to say hello to Orville and Wilbur in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, at the monument built for the brother's first successful flight.
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