The weather report from my Hey Google says it is sunny. It is lighter than the last few days but definitely not yet sunny, but I have hope. I think there is a glimmer. The temperature is 64°. The house is warmer than it has been. I have a cricket. I heard it this morning.

When I was a kid, Sunday was a lost day. It was church in the morning, dinner in the afternoon and occasional trips to my grandparents. It was also early to bed with my mother reminding us we had school in the morning, as if we needed reminding.

We always called our school St. Pat’s. The other kids went to the East School, but we didn’t call it by name. It was just public school which wasn’t meant to be derogatory. It was just a distinction. The other distinction is they wore regular clothes. We wore school uniforms except on scout days when we wore scout uniforms. At first there were lots of brownies, but as we got older, there were fewer Girl Scouts. I stayed.

Considering I never had a plane ride until I was in college, I have had the neatest experiences. That first plane was a small prop from Hyannis to Boston. In Ghana, I also rode a prop between Accra and Tamale. I took a helicopter between LaGuardia and Kennedy. That it rose straight up was the neatest part.

My sister and I took a balloon ride. We arrived at dawn to watch the balloon be inflated. It was in the fall, the last possible weekend for flight. I remember the sound of the gas as we floated. We were one of four balloons in the air. We could see people wearing robes and housecoats coming out of their houses to see us. We flew over a pig farm and scared the pigs. I took pictures of the balloon reflected in a pond. I could see the chase car following us. Though we practiced for a tipped basket landing, we landed perfectly then drank champagne to celebrate. On the bottom of the glass was a pin, a replica of the balloon.

On one beautiful late summer day, my friend and I took turns in a glider. I remember being pulled into the air by the small plane connected to us with a rope. When we were in the air, the pilot let me disengage the rope. We glided over the ocean. It was so quiet I could only hear the wind. We turned soundlessly. We landed on the grass. The wings tipped.

I have taken plane rides to the most remarkable places. I flew from Argentina to Uruguay over the water in a small plane. I flew over the Andes. They seemed so close I could almost touch them. I flew from Niamey to Ougadougou and arrived an hour before I left. Plane rides have taken me to places I had dreamed of when I was a kid. I am still amazed.

This entry was posted on October 1, 2023 at 12:50 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.