Mesmerized

There is almost nowhere I'd rather be than in an airplane looking out the window. Especially at night. On the flight out to Denver recently, I saw the luminous visages of Memphis and Birmingham. And delicate, illuminated bridges over the ominous black void of the Mississippi. On the way back, I saw lightning dancing on the tops of storms. My favorites parts of a flight are just before landing and the first few minutes after takeoff. That's when I can best envision the lights as being constellations. Make patterns out of the neighborhoods. "Look, there's a man running. And over there is a chimpanzee's face." It takes me back to the days of playing with a Lite Brite. Oh to be on a plane at night.