Circuit Board

I remember sitting in the car seeing the Twitter notification "Kobe Bryant involved in an apparent helicopter accident". We were on our way to the helipad to do our scheduled hour long flight over New York City on January 26th, 2020. Not only was it freezing, it was now a matter of whether or not flying was still appropriate given recent events. Our pilot was a crazy ex-Israeli pilot named Marciano - who convinced us that we likely wouldn't get another chance to go for a while. COVID was not yet a major headline in the US. We piled into the tiny four seater. I remember not being well dressed enough, one of the coldest experiences of my life as we stayed in the air for over an hour, banking almost 90 degrees over the Empire State Building multiple times, ascending to a ceiling of 7,000 feet where the entire city looked like a circuit board. It was like a vivid dream and when we landed I couldn't stop shivering, but I was happy.