We're all going somewhere...



What do you think of when I mention the word "airport"? Vacations...business trips...long lines...overhead compartments...crying babies sitting right behind you...?

Airports have always fascinated me. I never fail to be full of excitement and energy when I arrive at the airport to begin my trip...and almost as certainly, I never fail to be tired and anxious to get home on the back end of my trip. This trip lived up to all those expectations...I arrived at the airport on Monday afternoon, energized by some indescribable sense of adventure that is built into even the most mundane of business trips...and today, I sit waiting for a return flight home that has been delayed...and I'm tired...anxious to be done with the trip and get home!

It's interesting...all of the different kinds of people you find in the airport...families and businessmen, grandparents and little children...there is a story for every person here, and for the next few minutes or hours, our stories intersect.

We are, all of us...going somewhere...and for the most part, we all know where we're going. When our plane rumbles down the runway and lifts off, we know where we're going to be at the end of the trip. It would be nice if life were like an airplane ride, and we could simply buy a ticket for where we want to go...and then go there. But life is not nearly that predictable or cooperative...we often start out in a direction, thinking we know exactly where we want to go, and how to get there...and then life happens, and we end up at a destination we never imagined for ourselves.

The good news is, we don't ever have to stay where we are. If we don't like where we ended up, we can move...we can change...we can buy a plane ticket and fly someplace that is more to our liking!

Life will certainly surprise us...sometimes happily...sometimes not. We have to keep moving along until it's over, and make the most of all the moments along the way. You never know where life will take you, but as long as I get to go home when the trip is over, I'm okay with that.


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