Fairy Dust and Ships in the Night
It’s surprising what happens to the ol’ little gray cells when they’re completely exhausted! Over the last week or two I’ve been feverishly transcribing my Brazil trip travel notes and ran across this entry from our outgoing middle-of-the-night flight from Miami to Rio:
Saturday, November 7 – 1 am? 2 am? 3 am?
Leaning against the window, gazing sleeplessly out into the night, I contemplate the moonlit clouds below us as we fly south like a migrating bird. Tiny lights, random scatterings of glowing fairy dust, sprinkle the slumbering ground below, distinguishing hamlets and towns from silent countryside. Some of them are quite large, though of course everything is still small from this height.
I briefly wonder of the lives I’m passing over, likely never to meet or interact with. Still, the fact of their presence is enough to capture their existence here in these few words. What loves, what fears, what joys and passions are there, beneath the now slowly drawn lace curtain of cloud? Only they – and God – know. I resist the urge to wave as they slowly fade into the night behind our wings.
I read that later and wondered, did I dream it?
At this point in our trip I was pretty fogged out, vainly trying to get at least SOME sleep (we still had a long way to go, even after making Rio), though I generally cannot sleep on a plane. At least, not without a generous whack on the back of the head from a large blunt object.
Still, it sorta makes you wonder, doesn’t it? How many lives we pass, each and every day, never to meet; sorta like ships passing in the night. And yet, are those lives still inexplicably intertwined with yours? How can you tell? How would you ever know if, somehow, something you said or did affected a real live person “out there”, with whom you would otherwise have no contact, ever.
John Donne wrote, “No man is an island” quite some time ago, and yet too often I find myself living as though I was an island, y’know? It’s worth thinking about, don’cha think?
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Hi Robert, I sometimes wonder the same thing when flying. Do you ever think about whether any of the folks down there are connected with you on Twitter, or perhaps read your blog?
I went away for the weekend last year and I heard these two guys talking about this angry blogger who loses his cool at the slightest thing and how his blog is a funny read.
It was my blog they were talking about!
I knew it because the guy said my first name but couldn’t pronounce my second name (he said Saliva instead).
Robert, such beautiful words written so high above world below. I was so moved by that tiny excerpt and am clamoring for more.
Robert, isn’t it amazing what all goes through your mind while being on an airplane and looking out the window seeing the world from a totally different view? I always was wondering what people were doing just in the moment the airplane I was on was flying right above them in the sky.
Being on a long flight is exhausting and relaxing at the same time to me. Exhausting because I wouldn’t hardly sleep either and because of the jet lack and relaxing because it finally gives me time and the peace to think about things I usually don’t think too much about.
@Brad – Actually, nowadays I wonder that very thing! I mean, you never know…
@Dean – Oops! Hope you’ve mended the error of your ways. Or at least, changed your name…
@Karen – Thanks so much for your kind words. Maybe I oughta write more often when I’m extremely exhausted; things seem to come out so much more poetic.
@Paula Jo – I think you captured the experience beautifully: that perfect blend of exhaustion and relaxation. Thanks for the beautiful words, and a tip o’ the hat to ya!
Robert, one of the first things that amazed me–coming from an island–was just how big Florida was. And then, America!
Flying over Florida or Texas makes you realize the immensity of this land. And so many lives!:
“What loves, what fears, what joys and passions are there, beneath the now slowly drawn lace curtain of cloud? ” How many stories are left untold?
Thanks for reminding us.
Geoffrey
@Geoffrey – I know what you mean about small islands; I lived on Aruba for a year or so. I wonder how y’all don’t go stir-crazy with so little room to go walkabout! And yet… there’s still untold stories wherever we are, right?
I understand where you are coming from. every time i fly i cannot believe how many millions of people i am flying over. it is amazing!
@Mike – It sorta becomes old hat, doesn’t it? But in fact there are quite a few stories goin’ on down there, y’know? Wouldn’t it be interesting to hear a few of ‘em?