I sit at the end of a grass runway at a small airstrip in Cambridge, NY. The weather is perfect, sunny, 72 degrees, with low humidity and a light breeze. I am alone enjoying the open space in front of me and above me. I came here for 2 reasons: one reason was to find out if they will be having their annual fly-in this year, which usually falls around my birthday. I was very happy to learn that Aviation Day at Chapin Field will be on Sat., October 9. The second reason why I came to the airport is to write. The sky has significant meaning for me because it is where I was the happiest, when I took flying lessons and learned that I had more courage than I ever dreamed possible.
As crazy as this sounds, when I flew, I felt like I owned a piece of the sky. Whenever I heard a plane fly overhead, at home, I had to run out and look at it. The sound of it ignited my soul and filled me with immense joy. Taking flying lessons expanded me on the deepest levels.
When I practiced stalls and had to pull back on the yoke, it was not an easy thing for me to do. I worked muscles I didn’t know I had. When I did them, I felt hot adrenaline course through my arms. It was scary but my instructor told me, that there wasn’t anything I could do to the plane, that he couldn’t undo. This statement resulted in me having 200% trust in him. So, I pulled back, felt the adrenaline rush through and when the nose dropped and the plane righted itself, I never felt more alive in my life. To this day, decades later, nothing has ever come close to it!
I developed a relationship with the sky. But what preceded this was the realization that I needed more in my life. I was not a happy camper, despite the fact that from the outside, it looked like I had everything I could want. There are moments in one’s life when we are forced to pay attention to large inconvenient truths. This was one of mine.
This unhappiness came with me on a family vacation. While exploring the area on a rainy day in the Adirondacks, we discovered a man who owned seaplanes. We went up for a scenic flight over lakes, mountains and trees. During this 17 minute flight, time stopped for me. Even sound disappeared. I was left with an experience that turned me inside out. I had no idea what to do with it. One thing was certain; it could not be ignored.
Because I acknowledged my unhappiness and honored something that stirred me to my core, I was lead to a life-altering experience that expanded me and brought me great joy! At home, whenever I heard Tom Cochrane’s song “Life is a Highway,” I danced with abandon in my living room. I took my small children to the airport for a picnic. Why would anyone want to be anywhere else? I couldn’t imagine.
This fire in my soul gave me a new inner strength and helped me to see my enormous need for freedom. It has helped me to honor the parts of myself that don’t fit into society’s neat little boxes of “normal,” “traditional” or “conventional.” I know that I need a lot of open space. I know that I can not thrive in anything that feels like a box. I honor these things. I give myself the freedom not to expend any of my energy worrying about what others think, because I know that their response to my actions is more about them than me.
What has the sky ignited in me today? Peace and contentment because I paid attention to an inconvenient truth and did something about it. It has made all the difference in the world.
What do you need to do, to honor your soul?