I love to fly. Love the anticipation of a new destination, the airplane’s powerful acceleration and seemingly effortless lift-off, the way terra firma recedes in the distance until I have the sensation of floating high in the sky with a limitless lookout before me. The sheer immensity of the firmament and vastness of the land put human-made structures and concerns into perspective.

After a hiatus of sixteen months, my airborne journey from Denver to Frankfurt, Germany via Seattle only a few days ago confirms my fondness for taking wing. After our departure round, square, and rectangular fields on the prairie appear like pieces of a whimsical puzzle.

Roads travel straight, arc, or fork into many prongs, branch into many directions, but sometimes simply stop, a metaphor for life where not all turns lead directly to our goals, and we might have to backtrack. The plains give way to the Rocky Mountains which delight with stony labyrinths and velveteen flanks, sprinkled with colorful reminders of autumn. Once we touch down in Seattle, Mount Rainier looms on the horizon like a mirage.

Sunset on America’s West Coast is followed some short hours later by sunrise, when Greenland’s glaciers are tenderly touched by Aurora’s early morning caresses.

Clouds of varying shape and thickness drift in and out, conceal and reveal the marvels of our earth and our oceans, our peaks and valleys, 30,000 feet below, the only known world in our immense universe which affords life.

Did I mention that I love to fly?

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https://tanjaschimmel.wordpress.com/2016/10/02/uber-den-wolken/