This Reminds Me

Archive for February 12th, 2006

Keith and I arrived a-okay in St. Petersburg this afternoon, albeit without the cellular SIM card that would enable us to be reached a bit more easily.  If there is something you want us to know, just post a comment or pop a contact off this blog page.

We met Buckner’s helpful reps when we cleared immigration security, no small feat with the entry visa forms in Cyrallic and our jetlagged eyeballs blinking “no comprendo.”   After three bumbling runs at different officials, we made it.  We may meet Little A tomorrow, maybe Tuesday – we’re not sure.  What I am sure of is that we need to be plenty careful walking on the slushy sidewalks – I came dangerously close several times to crashing on the backside of my American diplomacy.  Keith wants to get one of those ear-flap fur hats; I swear if I thought I had a chance of finding women’s 11N boots for myself, I’d be hunting them tomorrow fer shure.

We gave SAS Airways two thumbs up for making the long flight from Chicago to Stockholm as pleasant as possible with hot food, steamed washrags, complimentary in-flight entertainment choices and an accommodation of Keith’s request for a bulkhead seat so he didn’t have to ride embroyed like Polly Pocket in her widdle pink plane. One of the in-flight features - which Keith accurately described as “such a guy thing” – is a real-time representation of the jet on a flattened globe, showing the rider the passing landmarks, (“Now does that look like Greenland or Iceland?”), how many miles from the point of origin and to the point of destination, air speed, temperature (a brisk -72C in the wee hours)  etc.

And in my sleep-deprived state, that got me thinking.  Everyone’s somewhere, whether you can see them or not.  The fact Rachel, Lois and Hannah couldn’t see Keith and me didn’t mean we were less their parents.  The fact we were flying over groups of more remote peoples doesn’t make them less tangible than we industrial drones.  The fact we can’t see people we love who have “passed away” doesn’t mean those people have ceased to exist – it only means they have ”passed away” elsewhere.

Everyone is somewhere.  Maybe our 4th daughter is here.  Please remain in your seats until the plane comes to a full and complete spot.

Dos Vadanya.