Long E-mail to Sister:
It started as an idea, a long email to my Sister while I was shuttling through – and riding around – in airports. Somehow – who booked these flights – that’s right – I did. Anyway, I was shuttling around and I noticed that a lot of folks had followed my lead, figuring that travel traffic wouldn’t be near as bad.
Of course, I was riding on a frequent flyer ticket, which meant that certain days were blacked out. Our parents traveled with us a lot, but I’m pretty sure it was different then. Or maybe not. I noticed, almost immediately, a after getting the “tuck and roll” at the Oakland Airport, a family traveling, the mom (presumably) pushing a double stroller with one kid walking, mom toting pack, and the husband wandering alongside, holding the tickets.
But this scene got repeated, in several variations. Seemed to me that the males weren’t doing a lot. There’s a kind of sadness that I get, a pervasive feeling of sorrow and loss, and while the senses are fleeting, I get them from time to time in various airports. Dallas, Austin, and most notably on this trip, the Phoenix airport.
When I was in school here, I never imagined that I’d be commuting through this airport that often, third time this year, I think. And I’ll be back this way for the Xmas season, although, I don’t think I’ll be laying over in Phoenix on that trip.
The deal that gets to me, the folks traveling with children. It’s a little strange, as I think about it. We got carted around like that, at one point. I don’t recall the details, I just recall airports and packing as a an ordeal. I watched one couple and their two young sons, and I made up stories. The mom was terribly worried about the two boys as they wandered off together to go to the bathroom. The pair of youngsters, I’m guessing 4 – to – 9 age range were a little wired.
The older one, in my mind, was a Sagittarius. Intent on his educational video game. The younger =one, a Gemini, obviously. Always moving, fidgeting, talking. The mom described to her husband what it was lie to watch them wander off.
Still, an echo of sadness of some kind, watching a nuclear happy family. It was also odd, on one leg of the trip, to watch really young guys toting around their kids. I’d just been perusing an article about astrological signatures in some years, and what it all means. Seeing ass how I fit one of those signatures, I was wondering about and guessing at the ages of parents.
There’s always got to be a Pisces, too. Relief from the sadness and burden of travel on a holiday weekend.
Yes, it was all a little weird.
The first time I identified this sadness or echo of melancholy, it was at the old Austin airport, a place that is no longer in service, but stood me in good service for the first years of the career. It was a place that hadn’t really been updated, architecturally (or so it seemed), in 30 years. So it had that old facade, just like air travel when I was a child.
Too many words, and not on the topic, just hints, echoes, memories, dream fragments.