Every detail about that glorious day you soloed is burned into your memory like the day your kids were born.

Every time you hear an aircraft overhead you automatically look up, wishing that was you.

You forget all the greasers you made this month and stew over that one really not-so-good landing.

You pat your plane like a trusty steed after safely arriving at your destination.

You try not to think ill of those among your friends and relatives too freaked out by small planes to come flying with you.

You’ve watched “Top Gun” and “The Right Stuff” at least a dozen times.

You think Chuck Yaeger was as close to godliness as it gets.

Irritability sets in if you don’t fly often enough.

You enjoy reading listings online of aircraft for sale, even the aircraft you know you’ll never be able to afford in a million years.

Pre-flighting a plane in the early morning of a beautiful VFR day, when the winds are light and the skies are clear, makes you wish you could live and fly forever.

You’ve ever been on the phone with a customer service rep in India or the Philippines, trying to resolve a dispute over a bill, and resorted to spelling out words to make yourself understood using the international phonetic alphabet.

You don’t think twice about dropping a hundred bucks on a hamburger if it means getting to fly somewhere new—or even if the destination isn’t new.

You always read aviation accident reports.

Checking the weather at your local airport has become an obsession, even on days when you’re not flying.

You think it would be awesome if someone using marshalling wands and wearing an orange vest guided you into your garage at night.

You wish there was more room in the “comments” section of your logbook so that years from now you could remember every detail of every flight.

Climbing up through a solid overcast on an IFR flight plan and into brilliant blue skies, with a batten of solid white stretching to infinity below you, is about the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen.

Descending out of the clouds on a precision approach to find the runway right where it’s supposed to be also is about the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen, and among the most satisfying thing you’ve ever done.

You’d rather spend an afternoon de-greasing the belly of your plane than doing laundry or mowing the lawn.

Only another pilot would understand the vanity plate on your car.

Before starting the car, you roll down the window and yell, “Clear!”

Your Instagram feed is mostly all airplane videos.

You feel an irresistible tug to divert whenever you drive past an aviation museum.

On commercial air carrier flights, you fire up ForeFlight on your cell phone so you can follow along.

You’d rather go flying than sit at your desk and write.

*With apologies to comedian Jeff “You May be a Redneck” Foxworthy