I sat down, shut up, and listened....
I was luck enough today to have been invited to an "old guys" lunch, by a pilot friend. He is a well respected Canadian test pilot, and so are his lunch mates. I had met most of them in decades past. But, it was again very humbling to sit with a group of retired deHavilland test pilots, whose experience I will never come close to equalling.
There is a total variation of pilot experience "out there", from the student pilots I meet, and post with here, to the veterans, who have survived it all. These guys are the veterans. Today I sat and chatted with the original 1947 test pilot for the DHC-2 Beaver, who was a WW2 pilot. He's flown every DHC aircraft since, and still flies these days, well into his 90's. A very nice fellow, who respectfully listened to the few things I could say about piloting.
In some ways, I'm still a student pilot, and today, I was reminded to be humble about it!
I'm going to start 2015 with a renewed appreciation for age and wisdom, and safe flying!