I am sitting on the first leg of the return flight home from Portland. It is the day after Thanksgiving, and the plane is not too full. I am in the middle seat, and in the window seat next to me is a woman with a small child on her lap. (G is on the other side of me.)
I thought you had to buy a seat for kids on planes now, but apparently the rule is if they’re under 2, they can sit on your lap. (Bad rule.)
I would bet this little girl is very close to 2. I would even bet good money that tomorrow is her birthday.
She’s sucking on a pacifier and playing with a pink plastic toy cell phone. The mother has the window flap down all the way, hoping, I think, that she might fall asleep.
This kid is not going to fall asleep.
I say this with complete confidence because this kid is sitting NEXT TO ME.
And not only is she not going to fall asleep, she’s going to wriggle and fuss and climb on the seat back in front of her and kick me and jostle my tray table and let out periodic whoops and rip up the Sky Mall magazine all the way to Minneapolis.
And that’s okay. It really is.
Because the sky is clear and blue, and the flights are all on time and my daughter is beautiful and happy and she loves her husband and he is darling and loves her back and they have a great life.
(Not to mention a Chihuahua.)
It’s better than okay because we will be home by 11 PM tonight, and even though it will have been a long day of flying, it’s only long because we are flying east and picking up an extra 3 hours along the way because of the time zone change.
Right before I left I read a great book, whose exact title escapes me at the moment, but it was about how new ideas are generated. This is the line that I keep thinking about:
“If you always go the same places, you’ll always see the same things.”
That’s why it’s good to fly to Portland for Thanksgiving or go to India just because you’ve never been, or to Chile on business (Hi, Tim!) or just take a completely different route to work.
Because you might see new things, and those new things will create new synapses in your brain and those synapses will generate new thoughts, which will, in turn, enhance your experience of the circus of life.
Oh, and and guess what?
In the time it’s taken me to compose this post, the little girl next to me is asleep in her mother’s arms.
It’s all good.
Inspiration Location 
Sweet. Sweet. Loved reading this. Thanks for sharing! Happy to think of you flying HOME as I read this while sitting in my sister’s house in Annapolis. I just read your post out loud to the ladies here in the kitchen. Good Stuff. You’re right … All is Good. HUGS! … Now I wish you a lovely day of R&R tomorrow!!!!
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Oh, total hugs back to you and all your kitchen ladies, Cindy! Happy leftovers!
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Just love your wit Kath, very enjoyable to read.
Glad that you had a wonderful time with your daughter.
take care,
Frank
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Thanks, Frank. Hope you have a great holiday. Don’t work too hard!
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One of my favorite quotes is
“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got”
Sounds a bit like the quote you saw so I thought I would share it. It has been a valuable quote for me.
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oh yeah! Thanks, Catherine. (miss you lots!)
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I love this idea of seeing new things. I’ll sometimes take a road through the countryside to work – and it’s always refreshing in some way. And I think that applies so much to life, too. When we try new things, or when we do the same thing in some different way – it expands our horizons. Not always easy for me – something about stepping out of that comfort zone that can be challenging at times. When I do, though, it is almost always so, so good…
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Lance, I hear you about the challenge of stepping out of my comfort zone. I tend to run the same patterns day after day. Becoming aware of them, and then changing it up a bit ALWAYS rewards with surprises! Thanks for the comment. I’ll be checking out your blog!
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