Content

Wing, Gold and Shadow

I'm what they call in HR terms a "self motivated" person, an "achiever". Driven by an inner fire and restlessness that never lets me rest for long. To me staying in bed all day is an uncomfortable feeling of illness, not relaxation. When I reach a goal I must always push on to the next. No performance is good enough, no peak is high enough, no distance far enough, no challenge extreme enough... not until I found flight.

The more time I spend in the air in a day, the more ... full ...  I am. When I fly for an hour I'm fully engaged. Fly for two and the rhythm takes over my thoughts. Fly for three or four hours in a day and my restlessness is purged, at least for a while. I lay in bed. Reflecting on the day, the views, the challenges, the things I did well, the areas I wish to improve, the particular characteristics of the plane (or planes) I flew, the texture of the air, the other pilots who's paths I crossed, the controllers I talked to, the people and places I observed from above.

I reflect and feel a sense of calm, content, and quiet joy that I've not felt before outside of thinking of the people I love. I have finally found my place in the world, my proper home, in the ever changing, challenging, exhilarating, sometimes routine, sometimes frightening experience that is flying. The more time I spend at my home in the sky the more content, the more in love, I am.