Fly Away Home

Can you imagine being the first person to look down at the world from your own personal death trap? Seeing the cotton candy clouds as you sail above them? The shades of blue you see up here, unmatched? Feeling level with the sun.

Mankind, jealous of angels, has dreamt of flying, well, since the dawn of civilization, finding its place in myths, imagination, and invention.

Icarus flew too close to the sun. Da Vinci designed flying machines. The Chinese and the French pioneered advancements in flight, and as humanity is wont to do with any new invention, turned flight into punishment and weaponry. Lanterns, gliders, balloons, countless trials, successes and failures, leading us to where we are today. Flying farther than the moon.

Ever since I was little, flight has been a part of my life. My dad works at an airplane manufacturing company, as did his father before him. He’s worked every department: painting, sand-blast, water-jet, punching parts, chasing parts. It’s taken a toll on his health, as he inhaled the finest shards of metal, the toxic paint, and the ‘sand’ used to smooth out parts. He’s destroyed his back and his feet, leading to multiple back and foot surgeries and developed a number of other health issues because of the chemicals. I see my dad’s sacrifices every time I fly and  it makes me sad and it makes me feel safe. He’s always kept me safe. There’s a specific green paint they use on some of their parts and I see glimpses of this green as the flaps on the wings open and close. I always try to sit next to the wings so that I can see the green. Because maybe, just maybe, my dad painted that part. And he’s with me.

I guess this isn’t so much about an event, as it is about an invention, an invention that stopped the sky from being a limit, an invention that every day men and women build and improve upon, so that we can travel, see loved ones, explore, discover. And reach, always reach.

So I'll just sit here and watch airplanes, take off and fly, and think about where they're going and where they've come from.