I was flying to Colorado to visit my daughter Sandra and her family.
At the time, I was still fairly new to traveling, and flying was an experience in itself. I knew airplanes could fly. Obviously. I was sitting in one.
But knowing something and experiencing it are two entirely different things.
I looked out the window.
The colors. The clouds. The world far below.
Everything looked different from up there.
I was seeing the world from a perspective I had never experienced before, and I couldn't find the words to describe it.
It wasn't just something I was looking at.
It was something I was feeling.
And there, just beyond the window, was a reminder that I was thousands of feet above the earth.
I understood that airplanes could fly. But looking down at the clouds from up there was another matter entirely.
How on earth are we staying up here?
LOL.
I suppose frequent flyers get used to the view. Some passengers had their window shades closed, apparently having seen enough sky for one lifetime.
Not us newbies.
We were practically plastered against the windows, taking it all in.
I couldn't stop looking.
The clouds seemed to stretch forever. The colors shifted across the sky, and the landscape below looked nothing like the world I knew from the ground.
I had only my cell phone with me.
I didn't think about composition, lighting, or whether the photograph would turn out.
I just took the shot.
Looking back, I realize that what I was experiencing was awe.
Pure, uncomplicated awe.
And what struck me later was that everyone on that airplane had the same opportunity to look outside.
Some chose not to.
Perhaps they had flown that route a hundred times. Maybe a thousand. Perhaps the extraordinary had simply become ordinary.
I wonder how many times we see something extraordinary before we stop noticing it.
There I was, still new enough to flying that I could hardly believe I was up there, looking out at those colors and clouds, suspended above the earth.
I didn't have words for it.
I just felt it.
And I took a picture with my cell phone.
Sometimes awe comes from seeing something for the first time.
Sometimes it comes from remembering to look again.
From the back roads, and occasionally above them,
Jo
Back Roads Photography | Prepper Shops
