Back in Alberta, flying over the mountains/ Ascension /My old aunt

It is not as if no one has ever flown on an airplane.  It is not as if no one has ever flown over the Rocky Mountains.  It's not as if no one ever had a nice window seat.  But it was an exhilarating flight. 

I like everything about going on a plane ride.  Walking around the airport pulling a little suitcase behind.  Being greeted by the professional staff.  Having a coffee watching the runway.  Maybe talking with a stranger, depends on how I feel and how they feel.  Getting a coffee brought on board, preferable by a young good-looking steward,  whom I may or may not have warmed up with a little talk about the aircraft, pretending I know what I am talking about.   I feel like the queen of England. 

And I enjoy the flight.  My husband is usually having palpitations.  I do say a little prayer and then give myself fully to the experience.

My male cousins fly airplanes in Germany and in British Columbia.  One flies a helicopter.  A female cousin flies airplanes and an uncle flies airplanes.   It is in the blood on my father's side, apparently. 

On the way, my I pod was still charged and I could listen to Norman Nagels talk on Christ's Ascension from Issues, etc.  It was such a beautiful and instructive talk, right over the Rocky Mountains.

In any case, I had a lovely flight to Vancouver.  See also my aunt's head and her neighborhood in Vancouver.  They live in the midst of big, old cedar trees. It is always a special time for me to be with my aunt.  Rarely can I spend time with a female, elder relative.  My mother has been gone for thirty years now. We sang a bit from a hymn book her grandmother gave to her in 1940 for her confirmation.  I did not even know her name was Martha.  My uncle was listening with rapture.  He had learned the same songs in Russia.  He was leaning forward to hear, as his hearing is getting poorer.  He sang a song his relative sang while dying after having been beaten and whipped.  He has such sad stories.  It was a Mennonite song, and I could tell right away from the theology in the first line.