Until a few hours ago, this was my perspective on the world...
*On Saturday morning, I leave for our annual two-week vacation to an isolated lake in Maine where this is only clear, clean water, good friends, and no phone-Internet connection to the world.
*I'm tired, fatigued even from a busy year. The last six weeks have been particularly tough. Elizabeth has been traveling a lot on business (Boston, New York, Chicago, London, Montreal, Washington, DC), it's been the end-of-the-year for the kids at school, the school board, and work has been cranking, too.
*Barack Obama may have become the presumptive Democratic nominee, but there's been no relief on the political front. Most years, the nominee is known by March and we political folks spend three months getting ready for the general election. This year, with the primary ending in early June, it's been more like three weeks of prep time. We'll sort it out by the end of August, I'm quite certain. By then, there will be a clear order to who is doing what and where. But the confusion and calamity since early June until later this summer only adds to the sense of fatigue.
*The Red Sox are in 2nd place. Not the worst place to be, but behind Tampa Bay? Yikes. As always, the Sox remain a charm to follow as a fan. They don't disappoint, and this year it seems as though the team's biggest challenge will be themselves. Can they stay healthy and perform as expected? If they do, I fully expect them in the ACLS series and even in the World Series.
*Hannah, Jacob, and Noah are just cranking...growing at rate which seems hard to fathom. Not only physically but mentally. The questions, barbs, jokes, and thoughts are so sophisticated these days, and I realize it's just the beginning. It's a joy to see them developing so, and a challenge to keep-up!
*Triathlons...finished three sprint triathlons this season, and have been definitely pleased with the results overall. I'm not a threat to make the US Olympic team, but I've been having a ball. I learn something at each race. Last weekend, I went to do a swim warmup, and the zipper on my Costco wetsuit broke. Oh well....at least the water was pretty warm.
So that was my world...until a few hours ago.
Without disclosing names or details, let me just share that I had a chance to speak by phone today with a mature young man serving on the front lines in Iraq. He oversees a tank squadron in a 3 kilometer x 2 kilometer region. That is his world. He spoke about death, destruction, retribution, ethnic factions, and the challenges of marrying western style democracy with ethnic rivalries (and worse). This young man is less than 25 years old, and my guess is that he has seen more in his tour of Iraq than, frankly, I've ever seen in my lifetime.
My so-called problems receded immediately upon our call. My perspective fell apart. What really mattered? I'm fatigued...please. Fact is, I'm going on vacation and this young man is putting it on the line every day for his country.
The interesting thing was, I sensed this young man would have nothing of the glory I might ascribe to him. I won't try to describe his feelings or views, but my feeling, sitting in the safe confines of an office, was that my sense of work, fatigue, and challenges were far less than what he faced. Every day.
And then this...
We're finishing dinner. Chatting about vacation, laughing about summer camp escapades with the kids, when there is this woosh-woosh-woosh.
Huh?
Woosh-woosh-woosh.
Look! Outside! A balloon! A hot-air balloon, getting ready to land in our neighborhood.
The next hour was spent in the happy sunshine of a gift from the sky. Everywhere neighbors poured out of the homes to watch the balloon land. The balloon pilots gave my kids and other neighborhood kids a ride in the balloon. Everyone clapped and smiled and laughed and rolled in the balloon as we worked to squeeze out the hot air.
I thought about the barnstormers from the 1920s and 1930s who descended on small towns like Lyme, and kicked up excitement like the kind we saw tonight. The joy of imagining yourself, and then really feeling yourself, weighing less than air. The joy of flying free.
Really, it's about perspective. And on this wonderful summer night, perspective came from all around.
I think now, in the cool quiet of a New England night, of a young man in his hot outpost in Iraq. Of the balloon adventurers. Of how the world looks so different -- how it moves from hostile to inviting -- depending on your perspective.
