Recently I was on a plane flying from Buffalo to Chicago. I arrived to the airport early and had plenty of time to sit in the terminal and people watch. One particular family caught my eye. The mother and father were probably in their mid-thirties and had a girl of about six or seven years and a boy around one. I watched as the mother fed her son applesauce, threw her hands in the air and made faces without a care as to how silly she might look. I saw the father attempt to take his daughter on a walk and then got nagged by his wife because the little one hadn't finished her sandwich yet. I smiled at their relationships and continued onto the plane as section four was called.
After settling in, this family was the last to board. They were obviously flustered and had their hands full. They were also accompanied by another family that looked to be the wife's sister, husband, and three little girls. Amazingly they all settled in. It was apparent that this was the children's first time in an airplane from their constant questions, "Are we flying yet?!" "When do we get in the air?". Both sets of parents assured them that we were in fact still on land and that they would know when we were in the air. Finally we were cleared for take-off and the plane accelerated. The girls were squealing in excitement. We lifted off and immediately their noses pressed to the windowpanes in awe of the new experience. One of the girls exclaimed loudly, "We're flying, this is awesome!!!".
I immediately thought of how simple and wonderful her life was at that very moment. She recognized a moment and declared with all her might how awesome it was. May we all recognize those little opportunities during this Christmas season and into the New Year and exclaim with all our might their awesomeness.
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