Fly Away

Length of Shower:  Is it still exciting to take a warm shower?  --So, I've done some flying recently.  No, not with my own wings or with a cape, but in planes.  And I realized as I was flying back home the other day that I still get excited to fly.  Do you remember your first plane ride?  Do you remember how excited you were to be flying in a plane?  I do.  And I still get that feeling every time I'm in a plane and we pull away from the gate to taxi out towards the runway.  I get a little excited bundle of energy in the depths of my abdomen and it forces me to grin.  The excitement is still there!

I thought about that excitement this last trip I took and wondered where it came from and why it's still there.  I have taken close to 100 plane rides in my day.  Now, that's not a whole lot compared to a business traveler or pilot, but it's enough to wear out the excitement; yet it hasn't.  As I searched my feelings (like Luke Skywalker should have done more of) I discovered it was less about the plane itself and more about where we were going.  No, not the actual destination, but the feeling of adventure and heading out to explore the world.  For some reason I associate plane rides with that feeling every college student gets when they first leave home and head off to college alone.  No parents or supervisors or authority figures looking over their shoulders; it's just them and they are finally, fully independent.  That is the feeling I get, just for a few seconds, every time I'm on a plane and we are about to take off.  The world awaits and I'm bound for greatness. Ahhh, what a feeling!  Do you ever have that feeling?  I hope so, because it's special and unique and is a small part of the larger fire inside each of us that keeps us living.  Cherish those moments and feelings and let them feed your soul.