The Joy of Flying...Somewhere

The Bird that would carry us to Rome, taken shortly before boarding in September 2022

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I sit, earbuds in place, thumb ready over the play button. Outside the window, men in safety vests wave their orange lights directing the plane’s taxiing. 

This is one of my favorite moments. Perched atop a striped tarmac, knowing that very soon we’ll be leaving the earth to greet the clouds above. 

I never want to take this for granted, so a few years ago, I made it a ritual. It was 2021, a year into “the bad thing that shall not be named.” For our tenth anniversary, after saving the previous 12 months to go to Italy, we realized it just wasn’t going to happen with many countries still closed to foreign travelers and a list of ever-changing guidelines. Ceding to reality, we opted for a relaxed adventure with two of our best friends: a stay at a way fancier than we can now afford all-inclusive resort in Mexico (there were some sweet deals in the wake of the global travel hiatus). 

While we were disappointed our dream anniversary trip to Italy couldn’t happen (yet!), this trip was exactly what we needed. And bonus, we got to make amazing memories with our besties while eating our way through every menu item of the resort’s five restaurants. It was heaven, really. 

Every time I fly, I am awed by the impossibility of travel by plane. I mean, think about it. You and your fellow sardines are literally being launched into the atmosphere as you watch a pre-downloaded episode of Schitt’s Creek on your pocket-sized computer awaiting the free ginger ale you’re about to enjoy 30,000 feet above Terra Firma. It’s insane. I don’t ever want to lose the wonder of this. The gift of this.

Leading up to our trip, I made a “Cancún Vacay” playlist full of songs that made me happy. We’ve got a little Shania, Natalie Cole, Dave Matthews Band, The Cranberries, The Midnight…a variety. But the most important song sits right at the top. 

This is the one I have cued up, ready to play the moment acceleration begins and I watch the ground zoom past my oval window. 

It’s special for a couple of reasons. One, because I like the on-the-nose-ness of the title. “Here Comes the Sun,” is precisely what’s happening. We’re rocketing closer and closer to that great star by the second. 

But the biggest reason is much deeper, one that brings grateful tears to my eyes every single time those too-small-looking wheels begin to leave the ground. 

My grandma loved to travel. She worked as a desk agent for American Airlines (TWA then) and was able to fly free when she was younger. She also loved the Beatles. She once traveled to Florida later in life to see John Stamos play with them! 

I didn’t realize this until I was much older because she never really went far while I was growing up. When I was about seven years old, she began a 19-year battle with cancer and didn’t get the chance to travel much after that because of the toll this took on her health and those constantly monitored white blood cell counts. She passed into Heaven when I was 26 years old while my husband and I were in California celebrating our 5th anniversary.

Waking up to that phone call is one of my worst memories. It was unexpected because she’d lived through every scary prognosis for almost two decades and I guess I just expected that to keep happening.  

We flew back from California on the 4th day of our 10-day trip. Driving as fast as we could from Redding (their airport was closed on Sundays), we sped through desert and mountains back to LA so we could catch the Red-Eye home to St. Louis. 

I spent that week eating Krakow from the deli with my Grandpa and the other men in our family as we talked late into the night and watched old SNL reruns, trying to forget what that week really meant. Why everyone was really there. 

On Friday, as my sister and I walked hand-in-hand out of the church sanctuary behind my Grandma’s casket, that hauntingly hopeful Beatles melody played. I had convinced my Grandpa to let me tuck a few of their songs in with the classic Go Rest Highs and I’ll Fly Aways. I didn’t expect that to be the one we said goodbye to. It was the first time I’d ever seen my grandpa cry. We held each other, and I wept too. A messy collision of sorrow and comfort. It was like she was somehow whispering, “It’s alright, little darlins.” 

So when I sat in my Southwest Airlines seat five years later ready for some rest and a good time with our friends, my eyes welled with tears. It had indeed been a “long cold, lonely winter.” Years long. But Here Comes the Sun. I could see it again. I could feel it again. 

Now each time I fly, whatever the trip, those words - that cheerful melody - they usher me toward the journey ahead. No matter how long I have to sit in an uncomfortable airport terminal. No matter how nervous I am to try new things. They remind me to savor. To be grateful. My quiet little ritual. 

I never want to lose the wonder of soaring into the sky on my way to another adventure. Another experience. Another skyline. Another culture. Another set of challenges and surprises. Another dance with serendipity herself. 

The smile’s returning. The snow is melting. It’s been a long time, but here comes that ever-faithful sun. Deep breath in and….  

Sunrise on a flight to Australia in 2012

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Here Comes the Sun

The Beatles / 26 September 1969 

Here comes the sun

Doo doo doo doo

Here comes the sun and I say

It's alright

Little darling, it's been a long, cold, lonely winter

Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun

Doo doo doo doo

Here comes the sun and I say

It's alright

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces

Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here

Here comes the sun

Doo doo doo doo

Here comes the sun and I say

It's alright

Sun, sun, sun

Here it comes x 5

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting

Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear

Here comes the sun

Doo doo doo doo

Here comes the sun and I say

It's alright

Here comes the sun

Doo doo doo doo

Here comes the sun

It's alright

It's alright

Lyrics from TheBeatles.com