Best use of time ever? I think yes.

Stay this little.

Do you ever just sit and watch the world go by?

I do that a lot. In the car going somewhere...on a plane...walking through campus...gazing out over the valley. I watch kids walk home from school, I watch my classmates, I watch the lovebirds in the corner of the room.

And the other day I was sitting in the glorious sunshine, looking over the valley.

We live close to the airport, which means 1) we get a lot of noise in the summer time and 2) we get to watch planes land and takeoff pretty much whenever we jolly well please. (this was great fun as a child)

I followed the progress of one particular airplane as it took off.

As someone who flies on a semi-frequent-ish-basis (enough to remind me how much I love it, little enough to keep me wanting to keep doing it) I love that feeling as the airplane finally begins to pick up speed.

Each step in the process of going to the airport seems to take you one step closer, from waking up at 5 in the morning to actually leaving the house with half of your world toted behind you, to that heart-thumping moment when you leave the security of those dropping you off behind as you walk away from the car.

You're thinking this is really it. Whatever it is that you've been waiting for for ages has finally come.

It like, triples when you board the plane, and then comes to a screeching halt when you start to taxi.

Forever.

And you wonder, will it ever takeoff? I could be sleeping right now.

I chew my gum nervously, worrying that the flavour will run out before we takeoff and I need it in the first place.

But it comes, you know it always will.

That moment when the airplane lurches a little and you know it's finally time.

It picks up speed, it goes faster, and faster, and faster, and just when you think you might run out of runway space, it gently lumps into the air. I say "lump" because it's like going over a speedbump with a pillow on it.

Your heart does this weird ker-thump thing, your ears go all funny, and your stomach does what it does in an elevator, except about 2.4 times more.

And if you're heading to a National speech & debate tournament, it does it about 11.9 times more.

So as I sat there, watching this airplane take off into the sky, I wondered what the people on the plane were thinking.

Were they all businessmen who were just flying because they had to, lost in the busyness of their iwhatevers and computers and papers, or who sleep right through the thrill of taking off?

Or could there be a young person on there, her heart beating with the excitement of a new place she was going, her stomach turning with the idea of what would be expected of her when she got there?

What did my world look like to them up there? I could see them, but they couldn't see me.

I was living that experience in my head as the
plane made it's way slowly towards the edge of the valley and then began to turn towards the east.

Thank you for flying Delta Airlines, we are now [insert number I never do comprehend] miles above Seattle, heading east towards Boston. Our flight attendants will be coming around shortly with refreshments. Meals are available for purchase upon request.

I watched the plane pass through a cloud.

I know what it's like to go through a cloud on a plane. The world is a tiny maze of dollhouses and then all of a sudden, there's a little fog covering it all.

I wonder if there's a child on that plane, nose pressed to the window, staring excitedly at everything that's going by.

I wonder if maybe someone is not traveling somewhere new, but somewhere old. Maybe he's going home after a long, fulfilling trip. I hope he enjoyed my favorite city.

The plane turns to the east, and eventually disappears behind the trees.

East.

There are a lot of places you can go when you turn east. That's a lot of states you could fly to.

I never want to lose my love for flying in a plane. To feel that magic, thrill, and anticipation.

There are some parts of life I have to grow up in...but when I fly, I'll always be a child.

Mhm, that's right Seattle.

Guess what?

Tenth Avenue North is coming to Seattle again!

March 3rd, everyone, guess where I'll be?

...Because I know you wanted to know that bit of information. ;)

Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Willing is not enough; we must do.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Um. Story of my life?

This photo very accurately (and very sadly) describes my life right now.

I should fix this. Really.

Freedom.

This is the most freeing message I have heard in a very, very long time.

My thoughts exactly, Grace.

I want my soul wide awake.

I want to sail

Into the sunrise

Right to the edge of the new

Way beyond me, out ‘cross the sea

Into a beautiful truth

A journey awaits

Incredible stories

I’ll live to tell you the tales

I want to know.

I want to go.

I want to sail.

Right through waves of my fear

Out where the waters run clear

I want to sail.



Tell me, what spell must I break?

I want my soul wide awake.