airplanes

it's a simple thing. i never really gave it thought before.

but i look up in the sky and see the long arc of a contrail at thirty thousand feet, blowing crazy in the wind

or south at night down the approach path and see six or seven little stars on final

and it brings a smile to my face. it's so beautiful.

(that's not an airplane, that's a dropship coming down from orbit)

flight is important to me. tons of metal and electronics and people moving through the air. it is something i approve of on a very deep and fundamental level.

and the few days when it didn't happen here, not at all, it made me realize how important -- and how oddly comforting -- the sight of a jetliner moving through the sky is to me.

that may sound odd to you.

but airplanes were a fact of my childhood the way that bicycles or tire-swings were to most.

now imagine if every bicycle was taken off the road for a few days. or if everyone cut down their tire-swings.

that's how it felt.