Where have you been?” some emails ask. "It has been a month since your last post.”
After three training trips, my travels are done for the summer. A return to normalcy and a rhythm prevails.
Training and Traveling. When I am in that mode, writing gets shoved to the side, overpowered by not only the demands of training workshops, but for the novelty of contrasting sounds, sights, smells, and experiences. The writing gets neglected like some pet that sits and awaits your arrival at home.
Travels provide contrasts that awaken the senses. The busy cacophony of traffic, cars, buses, trains – all of it in downtown Chicago, on a Friday at 5:30 pm is a jarring contrast to the tranquility of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park, or the nature trails of Oregon Ridge Park in Baltimore on a Saturday at 5:30.I have experienced a skilled captain pilot an aircraft through stormy weather, and an unskilled copilot struggling with numerous power changes and turns to keep his speed and altitude at the required values enroute to O’Hare.
The sociability and laughter of Southwest passengers, even in a stormy flight seemed sweet in comparison to United’s staid crew and passengers, most of whom cast no glances at others sitting beside them, preferring to delve into books and electronics. From the rear of the last shuttle bus ride came a raucous request from four men wanting to be dropped off at Lufthansa airline. Following their flight to Munich, three of them would head on to Amsterdam. This jovial quartet laughed and joked in three languages the entire way to the airport; one speaking in Deutsch, one in English, and two in Dutch. Yet, each clearly understood the other.
How great if this were a microcosm of our entire world!
For Sunday: The Pen Junkie and the Holy Grail of Pens
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