Posting from the Albany Airport on a Sunday morning....and it tickles me that I can write a blog entry from here (hey, one needs to be able to find pleasure and amusement in the little things!). Heading to Missouri on business...not the most fun one can have. Until I was 43, had been on airplanes twice in my life, at 18 for a trip to Florida, and when my older son turned 3, because he loved planes and we took him on a little charter flight. Then in 2004 I met Linda, who lived 300 miles away in Baltimore. There ensued 21 months of flying back and forth, and before long I felt like a veteran flyer. On the one hand, it's easy to be laissez-faire about it all, to sigh about the inconveniences of security checkpoints where one's toothpaste is presumed to be a lethal weapon, to know that paying a few extra dollars is worth it when you get first access to overhead bins, to recognize the gate attendants. On the other hand, what a miraculous thing air travel is. I woke in our home at the foot of the Catskills (after a glorious storm at 2 am!) and will sleep in St. Louis tonight. I'll fly over rivers and farms, cities and woods. I'll admire layers of roving-like cloud and my fingers will itch to spin it. I'll imagine how wonderful and exciting it would be to have Linda beside me, flying to some destination we'd never been. And in three days I'll do it all in reverse, flying home to my beloved, to the comfortable familiarity of home. How amazing is that? A hundred years ago no one could have imagined such a thing being such a small matter....but then, a hundred years ago, no one imagined words flying from one place to another nearly as fast as the speed of thought. It's an astonishing, magical world....
An addendum, as I now sit in my third airport of the day, awaiting a two-hour shuttlebus trip to the hotel: air travel is full of contradictions. There is aggravation; it should be illegal to wear perfume/cologne/after shave, or to miss a shower, before embarking on close quarters travel. There should be free earplugs for passengers not purposely flying with crying, screaming children. But there is also mystery and imaginings....who are these people sharing this moment in time? Why are there no people in ANY of the bizarrely, extremely blue swimming pools in Tampa? Are all those tiny cars carrying people heading to church on a Sunday morning? Or to stores and family gatherings? Are all cemetaries as peaceful and pretty from the air as the ones in St. Louis? What joys and sorrows will all those people in the shadows of the clouds so far below us experience today?
2 comments:
I'm visiting you after reading your comment on Dominique's page. I very much like what you wrote & agree with your thoughts on happiness and joy. And, so now I've read this post today & find you very interesting indeed. There are no people in the pools in Tampa because it is too hot to be outside. And, because the law requires the pool to be enclosed in a "cage" contraption which is so hideous. Everyone seems to have a pool, but no one uses them it seems. They thought they would, but then they don't. No joy. Unlike Texas, where we all have lovely lawns with beautiful sparkling pools, children, friends & pets everywhere and TREES, huge big oak & pine trees (the lawns are fenced, mostly hidden by landscaping). It is very nice to meet you. Marsha
Thank you, both for explaining the lack of people--and I was wondering about those cages--and for your kind words. It's a pleasure to meet you, as well!
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