Miscellany: Going to California on a big jet plane...

Flying to California to see Grandma reminded me of when I was a little kid.

You see, back then, flying was an adventure. I always wanted to take the window seat, so I could marvel at what was happening outside. I watched other planes taxiing in front of us, the horizon tilting giddily away upon takeoff, frosty ice crystals forming on the window as we soared above the clouds.

I've lost a lot of that sense of whimsy. Now, I usually grab the aisle seat so I can get out of my seat easier. Flying has become commonplace; I sleep through most trips, my eyes closed to the mesmerizing spectacle happening right outside the window.

It's funny - even as recently as a hundred years ago, the experience of being so high above the Earth that the clouds look like an ocean of cotton, with blue sky all around...it would have been the thrill of a lifetime.