Sonic BOOM and Floaters

Have you ever heard a sonic boom? I imagine you have, but how long has it been since you have heard one? They used to be common, pretty much an every day occurrence. A jet would fly overhead at a speed faster than the speed of sound, causing a sound wave that spread across the surface of the Earth - the sonic boom.

It has been a long time since I have heard one. Rules were passed many years ago to cause jets to fly slower than the speed of sound, over the U.S., so that the boom would not happen.

It seems funny that the boom is one of the things I remember about when I was a little boy. At an age of around four or five, my Mom would call me in from playing, in the middle of the afternoon, to take a nap. It did not matter that I was not sleepy, would not go to sleep, and was not even in her way; I had to lay down and "take a nap". Five minutes before, I was running around the neighborhood, having fun. Now I am supposed to lay still and go to sleep.

I can remember laying on the bed, staring out the window (remember it was a bright, mid-day experience) and there are two things I remember: 1-watching jets fly over and hearing the sonic boom, 2-watching the floaters. By floaters, I do not mean the brown kind, but the kind that drifts across your eye. They look like a piece of dust or very narrow piece of string. I always tried to catch up with them by trying to jerk my eye towards the direction they were drifting, always with no success.

Life was tough back then - wide awake "naps", having to eat vegetables, no TV (yet for us), only three months off for summer break, etc. I just had the best family, good friends, the great outdoors, freedom to develop into a regular boy and experience life in it's fullest form.