Into the morning sky

I'm just back from Montreal, where I spent a few days simply being there when I needed to be there.

Before I left, our daughter, all of 7 with a soul very much older than her age would suggest, asked me what it looked like to fly in a plane. So as I sat by the window of an Air Canada Airbus A-320 at Toronto's Pearson International Airport, I pondered how to tell the story in a way that would be meaningful to her.

With an empty memory card on my camera, I decided the best way to accomplish that would be to simply shoot pictures as they occurred to me, from runway to runway.

It was early morning, and the sun had just peeked up from the horizon. I was feeling decidedly melancholy about being away from my brood and sad about what I was flying toward, and I found myself enjoying the wonderful light that bathed everything around the plane.

This is a Northwest aircraft that was just in front of us in the lineup before the runway. Just seeing this image materialize before me made me feel comfortable at a time when life around me felt anything but warm and fuzzy.

I wondered what my little girl would say when she saw this picture. When I showed it to her just before, she confirmed what I originally thought: "Cool."

That's my kid.

Your turn: What three words are in your head now? Does this scene make you think? About what?

Next up: I'll post random pictures from my airport adventure over the next few days. Sometimes, just staring out the window of a plane is enough to remind us that life needs to be savored more carefully than is often the case.