Doc is stranded with the kid in Dulles.
His story triggered a memory a few years old. A while back, I took a trip with the male offspring, and we were traveling in the dead of winter from Whitefish, Montana back to the Bay Area. He was about 2 1/2 at the time, and we ended up stranded in the Missoula airport after a similar connection debacle. The whole trip, end-to-end, was about thirteen hours.
It was, for all intents and purposes*, effortless.
The big “a-ha” for me was that, from his perspective, he hadn’t yet formed the abstract concept of being “late.” Everything he was doing was in the moment…from running around the airport to looking at planes to playing games to staring at the mangy stuffed grizzly in the lobby. It was just another day of adventure, which they all are at that age.
Thanks again for that, little guy. You taught me a lot that day about perspective.
* – which is neither “intensive purposes” nor “intensive porpoises,” which I’ve also heard. gah.
(photo credit: johnny jet)
One wonders if we would not be better off without the concept of time. So much of what we do is predicated on what comes next. If only we could live in the moment, I suspect, our creations and productions would be better for it.
Lewis, I hear ya.