“Chasing sunsets and time zones trying to get back to you…”
As most of you already know, I spend a decent portion of my time on airplanes. Depending on my schedule, I’ll be on a plane twice a week. Yesterday was no different.
My flight wasn’t scheduled until 4:30pm, so I was able to get a bunch of errands run before Aaron ran me to the airport. It was a typical day. Normal; I went through the motions, like every other day, which we all do. As much as we believe we’re living every day to the best of our abilities…are we? If I was asked that question by a total stranger, I’d probably say yes. But if someone that I am close to asked me that question, I’d search a little bit deeper and come up with the correct answer, which is no. Feeling alive is something that we don’t necessarily experience every second of every day…but it’s normal. The most alive I felt yesterday was sitting in my window seat and staring out the window.
After going through TSA, which is always fun when you are wearing a belt, beanie, and jacket and also have to wrangle two large electronic devices out of your backpack (which I did), I arrived at gate 8 right when they started boarding. Perfect timing. I’m not a fan of waiting for things. Ever. Oops *shoulder shrug.* I found my window seat, sat down, and plugged my headphones in. Podcasts are my favorite past times on planes. Another thing about me is that I don’t like talking to people on planes, no matter if I know you or not. I don’t want to talk. It’s loud and difficult to hear anything and the other passengers get annoyed that people are yelling at each other about random, unimportant topics. Yet, of course, the older gentleman next to me wanted to chat my ear off, even though my headphones were on.
I entertained him until the plane took off and I stuck my headphones back in. I leaned my forehead against the window and watched the world grow smaller and smaller until we entered the mist of low hanging clouds and disappeared into a world of fog. Being inside a torpedo with wings going over 300 miles per hour through a seemingly endless vortex of time, space, and whiteness is something I have gotten used to; something I’ve never taken a second thought about. I sat there listening to La La Land by Bryce Vine (hey baby waste your time with me in California, la la la laaaaa), and a moment later my flying torpedo emerged into sunlight and a world of floating vapor. If you believe in Heaven, that’s precisely what it looked like.
Listen to me, have you actually ever sat down and thought about clouds and rain or the fact that the sun actually still does exist on the other side of these naturally occurring phenomena? I hadn’t until then. There are literal blobs of floating moisture that produce water that eventually rain down upon the Earth, and we’re sitting around worried about what we’re going to wear to boot camp tomorrow! Okay, that last part is probably just me…but I digress. How can humans be so selfish? The view that I received on the other side of the white mist was breathtaking. It made me think of how actually gorgeous this entire world is. Without the disagreements of politicians and the media constantly turning one side against the other, the world could come together and truly combine as one and work toward the common goal of possibly saving the natural way that our planet works. If humans could start minding their own business and stop judging each other, hating each other, and putting so much stock into paper currency we could go back to what really matters: trade, land, and saving the one planet we have to exist on.
Once these realizations hit me, I took my headphones out and ordered a glass of wine from the stewardess. The man sitting next to me ordered gin on the rocks. We cheers’d each other and spoke about our lives and what we do for a living and for fun. And guess. What. Happened? He offered me a place in a commercial. He told me while I am in LA, I should look up this company on Facebook and tell them that I know him from Oklahoma. And they reached back out to me. How amazing is that? Have I ever acted in my life? One time, yes. Was I any good at it? Hell no dude, I forgot my lines on stage and the male lead had to come in hot with a made up line to save me. That was 7 years ago…and maybe this is something that I could try again, but I never would have thought about it if this man hadn’t brought it up.
By the time we were finished talking and I plugged my headphones back in, the sun had not moved in the sky. The sun had not moved in the sky because I was chasing it across the time zones, along with everyone else in my flying cylinder.
What an experience. The quote that I attached to this post is actually by me. It originated back in 2015 when I was driving to Seattle trying to get to a guy who I thought I would love forever. Instead, that quote turned into something that I aimed at myself. I’m chasing sunsets and time zones, trying to get back to “myself” again.
I hope you all enjoyed this enlightening post of mine and I hope you all have an immaculate weekend. Much love from your Welch.
X-E
