Taking Flight

60: (September 2020)

My older daughter, Molly, who is a professional photographer, sent me photos and video clips over the phone the other day. Since she lives in Mexico, that’s the way we typically communicate with each other in between phone calls. But the content of the photos and videos surprised me: they were shots and footage of Molly and her fiancé going skydiving. I’m so glad she hadn’t told me they were going ahead of time (smart girl!); I would have been worried the whole time. Instead, I just got to see the done deal, complete with smiling faces and perfectly executed landings. I marveled at my daughter’s adventurous spirit. Jumping out of an airplane is on my short list of things I never want to do!

Then there’s my younger daughter, Bridget, who lives in Germany. Berlin is the hub of experimental electronic music, which is Bridget’s passion, so three years ago she got on an airplane and flew off to pursue her dreams. And now she’s living them. Although she had no German language skills or job prospects upon her move, she’s managed to carve a life for herself there as a composer and sound engineer. She opened her own recording studio this summer, tours around Europe and beyond with a solo saxophonist as his sound engineer, designed her own electronic instrument that sold through a synthesizer company, and has been commissioned to write and perform the music for a play in another German city. Not bad for three years of effort!

Maybe getting the most out of this adventure we call life is the underpinning that we all share; going after what speaks to the heart. The world is a mess these days, more than ever in my lifetime. But every one of us on this earth has been given the gift of life, so it’s important to grab hold of it and make the most of each day—whether that’s experiencing the joy of soaring through the air in free flight, creating a world of sound that enlivens the spirit, or digging in the earth and rejoicing at the size of mammoth carrots (yup, that’s me, feet firmly planted on the ground!).

40: (September 2000)

Perhaps the most oft-repeated command young children make to their mothers is, “Hold me, Mommy!” Echoes of these words slipped into my mind as I watched a dance performance of semi-professional teenagers. They danced from their spirits in motions that were as moving as they were beautiful. I watched one of them with particular attention. She moved with a bit more intensity than the others, and when I found out that her older sister had died within the year of a form of rapidly moving cancer, her dance took on new meaning for me.

It seemed to me that the dancer’s experience of loss made her wiser than her years, for her energy seemed to spring from a very deep well. Her passion, her emotion, spilled forth from her movements. I wondered what she was feeling while she danced. I felt myself strengthened by her spirit, which itself had the strength and freedom to create such beauty.

“Mommy, hold me!” The words resounded in my mind as I watched the performance. “Hold me!” A simple need, but a fundamental one, as basic as a mother’s instinct to do just that: hold onto her children as they experience life. Sometime the best we can do for our children is to hold them, to be there for them through life’s trials as well as triumphs. That dancer’s dance spoke to me of both the agonies and joys of life, a life energized by a passion for living. Watching her, I knew in my heart that the same mother who suffered over the death of her child had given us all a gift by holding this one so well.

We all need holding throughout our lives. If we are held enough, the passion for life remains intact, and it is the passion which allows us to then run from the comfort of enfolding arms, run with the energy of life pulsing in our limbs, and leap into the air in dance.

60-40:

In this time of COVID, it would be so easy to give in to fear. It is indeed a time to be extremely careful—for our own health and for the health of others. That’s just being sensible and compassionate.

But if ever there was a time to reevaluate whether we are giving expression to our dreams, now is the time. Our passions, our dreams are what make life worth living. And perhaps if we honor life by living it with gusto—no matter what challenges we face—our spirits will take flight.

The human spirit is a powerful force. Who knows what powers of good can come from unleashing it onto the world?