I love flying. I really do. I don't know if it's the TCK-ness(1) that runs deep or if I just plain ol' really like it. I used to adore flying when they actually served food on the flights. Mmmmm. Each food item in a little compartment and neatly packaged. Chicken, beef, or pasta. Salt and pepper that never got used. A wipe, of which I never was sure if it should be used before the meal or after (still don't know). And did you know that cheese, crackers and salami tastes best while in an airplane? I don't know what it is but somehow it's just one of those perfect combinations, like cheesecake, cappuccino, and good music.
I never could understand the people who didn't like airplane food. Well, and come to think of it, I wouldn't understand how some one would not like flying. And usually those two seem to go together. But to each his own.
I remember being surprised in my younger years of flying to find out that domestic flights didn't really serve food, just peanuts or pretzels. (Thankfully Delta has classed things up a bit with those Biscoff cookies...so good.) For a while I didn't really know what "domestic" meant, I just knew that it meant no good food on the flight. This was still during a time when airlines would serve a semblance of a meal on the longer coast-to-coast type flights. Then came the days after 9/11 and airlines decided that there should be no dangerous utensils, like spoons, made available to the passengers. Some where along the way they relented and decided that the first class travelers could handle the responsibility of not only spoons, but forks and knives as well. But as for the general public, they got stuck with peanuts. Oh, and a beverage of choice.
On my trip back from CT I started thinking back through the years of traveling. First off, I will never cease to be annoyed that they now charge you for food items (unless your content with peanuts). Second, I had to laugh when I saw one of those telephones on the back of that seat. I remember being amazed the first time I saw one of those. You can actually call some one while flying in the air? Third, they say the seat sizes have changed but I haven't really noticed a difference...not that I cared when I was three feet high. I could probably go on about the changes, but there's when thing that has never ceased to change: I still thrill when we take off.
Perhaps that's why I enjoy flying. That feeling of leaving the ground and soaring high, even above the clouds. When I was younger I loved seeing the cars, houses, and mountains grow smaller and smaller. I would gaze at the clouds for hours and dream up stories about them. Flying fed into my imagination and helped me create new worlds. Now, I'm 23 years old and I still feel that excitement. I suppose that it has matured now, but it certainly hasn't lessened. I still love to see the skyscraper, city, and great metropolis shrink in just seconds. I marvel at the mountains, forests, and lakes that I watch pass beneath me and I wonder if anyone as ever walked across that mountain top or if that forest is as untouched now as it was two hundred years ago. I savor the perspective of being pulled out from the details and getting the overall picture. Aw, and the clouds. They still hold so much mystery for me. They're truly romantic.
Hmmm. Pondering all of that it makes me think of few things:
- It's a good reminder that very often in life we need to pull ourselves out of the nitty gritty and remember that there's a bigger perspective.
- God is truly amazing to have created mountains and clouds, vast lands and vast skies.
- We should never loose our childish excitement for the little things in life...even when the airline does only offer you peanuts.
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(1) TCK= Third Culture Kid= A person who has spent a significant time of their developmental years outside the parents' culture(s). "The TCK builds relationships to all of the cultures, while not having full ownership of any. Although elements from each culture are assimilated into the TCK's life experience, the sense of belonging is in relationship to others of similar background." (Third Culture KIds: The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds by David Pollock and Ruth Van Reken) It has been said that a TCK feels the must at home while on an airplane, as they are in between cultures.
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