Hurtling headlong into a rainy sky

V1
Toronto, ON
November 2018
This photo originally shared on Instagram

"Okay, here we go. Focus. Speed. I am speed." Lightning McQueen, Cars (2006)

So why am I quoting a fictitious character from a Pixar animated film? Because every once in a while, I close my eyes and hear this scene play out in my head. It usually happens when I'm moving. Or accelerating. Or about to embark on some journey to some faraway place. Or otherwise do something that catapults me in a new direction.

The irony in all this is that I'm not terribly speedy anymore. Sure, I used to ride my bike around my neighborhood like a demon, until I drafted the wrong car's bumper on the way to my then-girlfriend's house and the driver recognized me and called my mom. But eventually the thrill of living on the very edge of velocity wore off.

I still enjoy mashing the pedals and feeling the rush. Or giving Henrietta the Honda 2.0 a little more gas than she really needs as I roll out of a corner. But it's a lot more within reason these days, thanks largely to the merits of maturity, and the weight of responsibility I carry with me wherever I go. Speed is fun, but not if it compromises those who rely on me.

That doesn't stop me from feeling the moment as an unseen pilot up front finishes the checklist, gets clearance from air traffic, pushes the throttles forward, eases off the brakes and lets six figures of thrust zing a couple of hundred bleary-eyed souls into the sky. Because in an otherwise digital and virtual world, where everything is delivered via an app on a screen, where we message each other without ever really communicating, where everyone's connected but no one's really connecting with each other, it's nice to turn off the technology on occasion and feel something analog, visceral, real.

It reminds me that I am very much alive, and very much blessed to be here. If also reminds me we all have a responsibility to do more than simply go through the motions of life. Doc Hudson would no doubt approve.

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