by Richard
No matter what job I’ve ever held, it never required me to do much traveling. Well, not much traveling to places so far away they couldn’t be reached by one over-caffeinated driver and a really good mix tape. To be more precise, I never flew much of anywhere for my jobs.
All of which is a long way of saying that when I traveled by air, I normally traveled with family or (pre-9/11) was met at the gate by different family or friends. Walking off the ramp from an airplane into a new airport, whether I was a younger dude or the lead dude of the family, was always a treat. Because you’d gone into a long, roundish box and sat there for a couple of hours. Now you were walking up a short ramp and you’d be somewhere else. And seeing someone familiar there was always a treat. It made me feel safe in this new place.
Now that I’m the lead dude for the family, I’m the one who has to provide the feeling of safety for the little dudes, that anchor to the familiar in an ocean of change. Yet I still feel as if something’s missing when I march us off the plane and off to baggage claim. I keep wondering where the adult is that’s supposed to be doing all the leading.
That feeling only intensifies when I’m traveling without family or friends. As I settle into my seat, I always get the feeling that I’ve forgotten something massively important. Then I realize I’m missing something because I’m not dude wrangling a trio of brawling, mobile stomachs. When I get off the plane by myself, there’s always that sinking feeling that I’m alone in an unfamiliar place.
Then it passes, of course, because I’ve got four decades of finding my way through airports and new settings behind me and that sort of experience does lead me to a certain small idea of what to do.
Try it the next time you fly by yourself, if anyone can ever afford flying for fun any time soon. See if there is that feeling, even if it is quickly extinguished. I’m curious. I’m also probably the only one who’ll admit this sort of bull, but, well, that’s why I’m writing.
Tags: A Dude's Guide to Life, Adult, Airplane, Airports, Anchor, Baggage Claim, dude, Dude's, family, Finding My Way, Fly, Four Decades, friend, Friends, jobs, Lead, little dude, little dudes, Missing Something, Mix Tape, Ramp, richard, safe, safety, Sinking Feeling, Stomachs, travel, traveling, Trio, Unfamiliar Place, young, Zen