Birmingham Airport, 5:00 a.m.

Waiting to board an impossibly early flight. Running low on caffeine and humanity.

Also in the waiting room, a family of 5, grandparents, adult daughter and 2 little girls I would place at ages 6 and 4, give or take. Much is being made of the fact that it is the girls first flight. They are unimpressed and are busying themselves unpacking their entire carry-on bags seconds before boarding. They have been instructed not to do this, but it has provided a nice break from pushing each other and shrieking. They are crabby and ungrateful, uncooperative and difficult, in other words, expressing outwardly my exact internal emotional state.

We board the plane at a glacial pace in which entire kingdoms could rise and fall, and when I take my seat, my heart sinks. The crabby twins are directly in front of me. It will be a very long short flight to Atlanta. I content myself with the thought that at least we are not flying to Australia.

Immediately a scuffle breaks out between them over who gets the window seat, the younger prevails. Howls ensue from the elder over the unfairness of it all. A flight attendant is accidentally summoned because one of them pushed the button they were expressly instructed to not push. They refuse to smile for Grandma’s “first flight” shot for Instagram, despite several attempts. This degenerates into low level sniveling as we taxi down the runway.

As we take off I eventually notice it has gone quiet. Through the gap in our seats by the window, I see the little girl is staring wide-eyed out the window. Suddenly she announces in a clear, ringing tone:

“ We are FLYING!”

There is no mistaking the wonder in her voice.

I look out the window and it comes to me that we ARE flying, and what a miracle that truly is. I forget that I’m tired and grumpy and old and crunched up in a tiny seat and remember that I have the privilege of soaring above the world.

Then she exclaims

“Clouds, clouds, CLOUDS…”

before her words trail off.

And I looked out as we came up out of the mist onto a snowy blanket of clouds, illuminated by the rising Sun, a ring of fire around the horizon, and I catch my breath at the beauty of the world.

At that moment she looked back through the gap at me and our eyes met and we smiled, and without saying a word, turned our eyes back to marvel at clouds, clouds, clouds…