Flight

When was the last time you closed your eyes and imagined you could take flight? Do you remember the feeling that you were soaring through the sky, maybe with a cape or wings, but never on an airplane? As a child these moments were easy to find – a sunny day, a jump off the trampoline or diving board, that simple jump into make believe – and you were flying without even trying. Flight, feet far off the floor, wind whisking over your body, gravity non-existent.

As an adult, that feeling is hard to find. Actual flight is what takes you from one point to another. Procedure, lines, baggage, fees weigh you down. Your ideas of flight are encumbered by fears of what happens if something goes wrong – when you’re that far in the air, gravity is sure to set in at some point, what if you lose control? Safety tips are restated, you are protected by steel and people who know what they are doing at the wheel.

As an adult, there are few times that you can fly with your feet still on the ground. Only speed and remarkable experiences send you into flight. Maybe jumping off a cliff, or out of a plane, maybe, but the fear factor is there. Definitely driving down an empty highway on a semi-cold night with the windows down and a favorite soulful song in the speakers sends you into orbit. Standing on a sidewalk on a blustery British day, just standing, with the wind whirling between your legs so that at any moment you are sure that takeoff is near, and then you close your eyes. Flight.

These moments are rare, and easily missed. Close your eyes. Imagine. Believe. And maybe, maybe wings will sprout, for a short time at least. Maybe we spend too much of our waking hours with our eyes open and our minds focused. I am seeking to find flight again – breathtaking, unprotected, fearless flight.