So much like home

This summer, I developed a theory about myself.  It's not very deep, or even very wise.  But I think being here in Malaga has only proved it to be true.

Since I was three, I've lived spitting distance from the airport.  Ok, maybe not that close, but pretty darn close.  Our home was so close that under the city ordinance we had to have all of our windows and doors replaced with those to keep the sound out of the approaching planes.  They don't have their gear down yet, but you can practically see the numbers under the belly.

I've fallen asleep to their dull (and sometimes not-so-dull) roar.  I find amusement in just watching them take off and land, even going out of my way to do so.  I spend summer evenings in the pool watching them make their final decent and I even run outside when Dad calls to say that Air Force One has just taken off (no matter who's presiding).  I usually wonder where they're flying to, or where they're coming from, who's aboard, why their traveling.

To me, planes and airports have always signaled progress, exchange, diversity, openness, communication, culture, and pretty much anything else that "traveling" also means to me.  Therefore, living far from a major airport also seemed like the absence of many of these qualities too (whether true or not).

I'm comfortable with planes.  But more accurately, planes make me comfortable, and their presence have always signaled "home" and a brought a certain peace of mind.  Last year in Cordoba, the absence of planes was practically deafening.  I searched the skies for any sign of life, and on the rare occasion of seeing a plane (so high up it was more of a shooting star) I would get so excited most would believe me to be crazy.  On more than one occasion, my friends made mention my uncanny ability to spot or hear a plane  in the far, far distance, and still thought me crazy for it (I don't really blame them).

This year, I've found myself more at peace, and feeling more at home and I think so much of it has to do to the proximity to the airport.  Often I can hear the planes taking off over our apartment and watch them as they start their journey.  And because it makes me recall a home I've always known, I can feel the comfort of that home even when being so far away.