Learning to Fly
I realize this post will be far off the beaten path but I hope you'll humor me. I came across the most wonderful comic today when exploring Russell Stutler's website. It is called "A Strange Wind Blowing" He captured that wonderful nostalgic feeling I used to get on a blustery day. Remember how it felt to have the wind give you the feeling you could fly when you were a child? We were so light a strong wind could move us. Dreams of flying were natural. When I was a young boy I didn't just wish to fly when the wind was particularly gusty. I actively tried to fly. Even long past when I knew that I couldn't fly I would let the wind flap my clothes and I would imagine flying. Sometime in my life I forgot about flying, even in my dreams. Instead, I dreamed of falling and being chased1. When I was awake this morning at 5am I wasn't thinking about flying then, either. A cold front had moved in overnight and the wind was howling and beating at my windows. I went outside to secure our backyard paraphernalia and pensively wondered if it was tornado weather. It never occurred to me to stand out in the middle of the yard in my jammies and just let the wind lift me up and take me away. I was all grown up now. Instead, I went back inside, responsibly went back to bed, and didn't even dream.
Reading "A Strange Wind Blowing" reminded me of what I'd forgotten this morning. For me disability has nailed my feet down, but there's debt, and bills, and obligations, and all the other pressures of the adult world I share with my fellow man that keeps me grounded as well. Maybe it's time to dream of flying again. Who knows? I might even get lucky this time.
Coping Strategies:
1) Go fly a kite.
Comments
and lure the tempest
mother may find you
in the history of reverie
belligerent deficits banished
to evoke the eager minority
yep, gonna fly a kite
SS
Thanks for commenting.
~Douglas
Thank you for comment, btw. I hope you don't mind the link. I enjoy your writing very much.
Mountain Faerie ~ To make dreams come true we often have to become serious. It's an interesting paradox, isn't it?
If you're swinging by Utah on your next flight to England, be sure to swoop by and pick me up. ;)
Now I feel better about it. Not so much that I am dabbling with insanity.
I will fly a kite soon. I think we need that to be close to the wind. Gives that same completeness that being near the ocean brings.
Cheers
julie (from Verla's chat)
experiment with totem animals..if yer into that sort of thing.
or consider getting into it ::grins::
theres all kinds to choose from, flying creatures being one of them..
it can really bring you closer to yourself..but expect to ride some turbulent feelings with associating with such things initially.
i always dreamt of falling and being chased..till i started dreaming of flying and fighting back.
dreams die slow for some, faster for others. regardless though..if you want to there must be a way of finding it inside yourself again.
cynic though i am, this much i can believe!
I can't say I felt I could fly on blustery days, in fact, with my balance issues, they have always made me nervous! Way back when I lived in Boston I was crossing a very big and busy intersection. The wind started up. Next thing I knew, I was moving my feet, but not going forward, and the light had turned green! Then, I got caught in Hurricane Bob. I was holding onto a brick buidling for dear life when 3 men yelled to me: "Don't move, we'll come get you!" They held me up and walked me home. That story, told in person cracks people up, and me too! They saved me that day.
Before I realized what was going on, I found myself swinging almost even with the top bar, the whole time giggling and grinning like a total moron! (At least that was what the look Auron was giving me said!)
I felt weightless and free for the first time in a very long while... We should all find the time to fly a kite, or ourselves, every so often.
Too many people are held fast to the Earth, and miss out on so much simple joy because of it. I love your posts Doug! Thank you!
I still dream about falling sometimes. I always wake up before I hit. Do you know anyone who has dreamt of falling and actually hit "ground" before they wake?
Have a nice day!
It's an interesting concept. Why would we necessarily be Earth bound in Heaven? I've discarded the old-fashioned idea that Angels have wings for so long I suppose I hadn't considered that we could fly in the world beyond. Ooh, you've given me something to want to die for! Won't you're Mother be thrilled? LOL
Thanks for posting, babe.
Anonymous ~ Thanks for dropping by, Julie. I've never caught myself flapping my arms, though years ago I do remember losing my footing and trying to reach stability by "soaring" a la Christopher Reeves style. I wasn't nearly as graceful, I assure you. And I'm afraid to say that gravity was working quite well that day. Dang...
Poetwoman ~ You must be terribly light to be stopped in your tracks like that! I don't recall Hurricane Bob, but I do remember Gloria. If Bob was anything like Gloria I imagine you are quite lucky you weren't blown out to sea. ;)
Melissa ~ Thanks for posting. I can remember as a child swinging so high that I'd get that freefall lurch in my stomach on the way back down. Glad to hear you're letting your kids help you stay a kid yourself. I've never held to the believe that growing up meant becoming somber.
cheesemeister ~ Hello, cheesemeister. I'm Douglas. Glad to meet you. When I dream of falling I do not wake up before I hit the ground. Let me tell you, it hurts. I'll wake up clutching the bed for dear life wondering what the heck just happened. It'll take me a moment to realize it was a dream. I actually "feel" the impact during those dreams. It is so unnerving. It definitely wakes me up. I guess that makes me a one-of-a-kind kind of guy. I'd trade one of those dreams for flying any day. It's one reason I experimented with lucid dreaming - I wanted more flying dreams and less nightmares.
Susanne ~ Loved your response. Thanks. Love your photos as well.
~Douglas
Well, I finally did it. I dreamed of flying last night. I was dressed up like Space Ghost and when the police tried to arrest me for being a vigilante (who was apparently handing out parking tickets to errant parkers) I escaped in my white hover car. As I scooted down the street I caught some air and kept going. Suddenly San Francisco became a deep mountain valley on the outskirts of Boston and I tried to get an updraft to rejoin the traffic on the highway. The panorama was breathtaking (with sweeping camera angles to make even the most adept cameraman jealous, obviously influenced by the BBC's Planet Earth I had just watched the night before). Eventually I coasted to a stop in a mock city in the middle of an army exercise. They were being taught how to burn cities, and I thought "That's not part of core Army training..." The dream devolved from there.
So, it wasn't a flying dream, but it was a flying CAR dream, and I should get extra bonus points for wearing superhero spandex and a nifty billowing cape. :D
Besides, making friends with a totem bat or bird won't get me up in the air, will it? Well, maybe if I lost some weight...
editor friend (who really ought to sign up for a blog account one of these days)
You can click on "Other" and sign as any name you wish if "anonymous" isn't doing it for you. You don't need a blogger account for commenting. Then again, nevermind that! I want to read your blog! :)