Last week, Jared was required to do some night circuits--five takeoffs and landings after dark. Have I mentioned that he's a pilot? He's a pilot. He got permission to take us along, and it was magical. He helped us up the steps and buckled us in. He gave us the passenger briefing and then we were moving. As he and his co-pilot navigated the complex maze of taxiways toward the runway, I felt nervous. Would this be too scary for our children? I needn't have worried. I have never heard a happier sound than the giggles that erupted as we picked up speed and found liftoff. We flew over the Mattagami River, and the library, and Gillies Lake, and our house. It all looked so different. At one point, Mary said, "Those are trees? I thought they were bushes." And it hit me then , that the way I see trees is not the way trees look. It has more to do with me than trees. And that the Mattagami doesn't know I call it the Mattagami. The name is useful to me, but in no way describes what it's like to be a river. It was a beautiful experience, floating a thousand feet above the earth in a tin can with seven other humans, thinking about perspective. Spiritual.
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