Can You Imagine

Have you ever thought about the things that most of us take for granted? Like flying in an airplane. Here in the US I think we just make the assumption that we have all taken a plane flight at some point in our lives. Or maybe we don't even think about it.

The reason I bring this up is because yesterday I sat on a plane and the 50 year old man sitting in the row behind exclaimed, in a voice loud enough to be heard over a bunch of rows, "This is my FIRST PLANE FLIGHT EVER! Can you take a picture out your window with my phone. I want to remember this!"

I had to stop and think about this for a minute. He is 50 years old and he hasn't ever been on a plane before? A number of us, myself included, actually asked him if this really was his first plane flight. He replied in the affirmative.

I couldn't imagine that, which just shows you how head in the clouds I probably am. Really, in reality I know that there are many, many people who have never taken a plane to anyplace. They have had no need to go anywhere. They haven't ever had the funds to do so. They are afraid of the thought of sticking themselves into a skinny metal tube with a boatload of other people and have that skinny tube of metal hurl itself down the runway and hope that it takes off successfully....and lands successfully at the other end of the journey.

I took my first plane flight at the age of 10. I have taken countless flights since then, some great and some not so great. Some short and some very, very long. I just can't imagine taking my first plane flight at the age of 50. He had no idea about the "flow" of things after take off. He wanted a drink but didn't understand that he didn't need to call for a drink, that the flight attendant would come around and ask. When HHBL got up to walk around a bit (he pulled a hamstring last week playing baseball), Mr. Plane Newbie was amazed that HHBL could stand in the aisle. And when the plane landed, just a bit rough but not the worst I have ever experienced, he looked at me and said, "Is it always like that?"

Sometimes I think it is really good to be able to see an experience through the eyes of a newbie.

And I hope he has a really good time at Harry Potter World. He was as excited about that as he was about going on his first plane flight.