I can remember departing out of OAK just before dawn. We were most often headed for either LAS or PHX. I would always ask the departure controller if we could stay low and give our passengers a Bay Tour. Most often they would accommodate us and we would stay around two thousand above the bay and make a slow continuous left turn with a grand view of San Francisco out the port side. We would cross directly over the Golden Gate Bridge, start our climb and continue down the coast for a few miles on our assigned SID. The sky was always beautiful, sometimes clear, sometimes scattered layers of stratus above.   I think my favorite part of flying was climbing through a thin stratus layer into a tiny sliver of sunlight as the Sun was rising over the distant horizon. I would slow my ascent as we were approaching the top of the layer in order to lengthen the enjoyment of the moment. There was hardly any talking  between the two of us on the flight deck as we both were consumed by the beauty of it all. Only the occasional chatter on the radio would break the silence. This is only some of the things that I miss from that wonderful job that Almighty God blessed me with for more than a few years.  And still, I get to do it again every once in a while.  God is so good to me! For the life of me I can’t fathom why He has blessed me so much!  And, still the blessings are incoming!