Travel, in any form, brings me great joy. One of my previous jobs required me to fly almost weekly, and my favorite part of that? Airports. Yes, I’m one of those few people who actually enjoy these hubs of activity. I even enjoy delays if they’re not of the 10 hour variety. I simply park myself with my laptop and watch the movement.
I recently traveled to Albuquerque, NM where I appeared on KASA FOX 2’s “New Mexico Style” to promote my book, “Control Switch.” On the way, I had a connecting flight in Chicago. Five of my all time favorite words: “A connecting flight in Chicago.” For a girl who loves airports, O’Hare serves up a smorgasbord of sensory stimulation.
There’s movement everywhere. Other than the folks who are employed behind counters or between tables, everyone’s making their way toward a destination, and I love that.
Movement is fluid; it’s life. It stimulates the imagination and creates endless possibilities. While sitting in my corner of the airport last week, I imagined what it might feel like if the movement suddenly stopped. How empty the place would feel without that electrifying pulse of motion. Some would prefer the quiet and an end to maneuvering through a seemingly oblivious crowd, but not this girl. Every day in that airport, that crowd is on a journey and each person in it has a unique story to tell.
It’s basically a microcosm of the big picture, don’t you think? They all are: O’Hare, DFW, Pearson, Charles De Gaulle. A snapshot of what’s going on in the grand scheme of things. All of us on our way to some scheduled destination and picking up stories along the way.
At this stage in my own journey, I’m starting to see the importance of savoring delays in the macrocosm as well. I’m trying to actually revel in them and absorb the flow of life around me. Maybe stepping back from the energy of movement gives us a much needed reminder that it exists. Maybe the shore provides the best view of a river with a constant flow – a river that has a bend in the distance leading to potential opportunity.