10 Feet Higher and Never Coming Back
I’m sitting 39,010 feet above the surface of the earth right now, a height that I had never been at. Partially because I am flying across the Pacific but more because I got to add 10 extra feet this trip as I am sitting in the upstairs cabin of a 747 in route to Australia, and I’ve never been upstairs before!
Sometime around seven months back, I took a job that gained me the nick-name “suit” – referring to a character on the TV show ‘Entourage’. Where I had once started on the crew side, even dare I say a short stint on the “creative” side, this job brought me to the corporate / studio side and as such gained me the nickname suit. And now as I sit here some 7 miles above the ground I’ve been thinking about that change, this job and where I’m at these days personally and professionally. Needless to say, there is far too much in those thoughts to fit into this entry, hell even this entire blog; but one thing did became clear to me right before this trip that that I think kind of symbolizes those thoughts.
10 years ago, while preparing for my first trip overseas with my friend, we spent months pouring over books, maps, plans, guesses as to what might come up and how we will react. I eventually took that 14 day trip, hitting 6 different countries in Europe, backpack on my back, and it’s a trip I’ll never forget. However, this time, Australia hit my radar only 6 days pre-flight. No planning, no process, no real time to think – instead it was “buy a ticket, you’re coming with me (my boss) to Australia for the week.”
Just like that I had a business class ticket in my hand and was on my way down under. Don’t get me wrong for a single moment, it’s great. I’m giddy to be here – as shown by the fact that it’s currently three in the morning in Los Angeles, 10 in the morning in Melbourne and instead lf sleeping on my lay-flat seat or watching the plethora of free movies in my fancy seat, I’m sitting with my laptop writing. Something I haven’t done in far too long. No, I’m definitely loving this, but it’s different this time. My world got smaller this week. Suddenly far away seemed a lot closer, far off lands seemed much more within my grasp.
This job, this trip - it’s something I’ve always wanted and looked forward to even – but in the same breath it’s a bit sad. Growing up, you’re rarely aware when something in your life changes, it happens and only time and growth allow you the hindsight to become aware of it. It’s a blessing really, growing up is hard enough, it’s too much to expect you to be aware that it’s happening at the same time. However this time I was wide-awake and felt it happen, am feeling it happen. It’s rare that you get that feeling anymore and so as I sit here, on the upstairs portion of an airplane somewhere over the Pacific, I am 10 feet above the level I’ve been at all the preceding 29 years of my life and I don’t think that I can ever go back down, or go back.
Sometime around seven months back, I took a job that gained me the nick-name “suit” – referring to a character on the TV show ‘Entourage’. Where I had once started on the crew side, even dare I say a short stint on the “creative” side, this job brought me to the corporate / studio side and as such gained me the nickname suit. And now as I sit here some 7 miles above the ground I’ve been thinking about that change, this job and where I’m at these days personally and professionally. Needless to say, there is far too much in those thoughts to fit into this entry, hell even this entire blog; but one thing did became clear to me right before this trip that that I think kind of symbolizes those thoughts.
10 years ago, while preparing for my first trip overseas with my friend, we spent months pouring over books, maps, plans, guesses as to what might come up and how we will react. I eventually took that 14 day trip, hitting 6 different countries in Europe, backpack on my back, and it’s a trip I’ll never forget. However, this time, Australia hit my radar only 6 days pre-flight. No planning, no process, no real time to think – instead it was “buy a ticket, you’re coming with me (my boss) to Australia for the week.”
Just like that I had a business class ticket in my hand and was on my way down under. Don’t get me wrong for a single moment, it’s great. I’m giddy to be here – as shown by the fact that it’s currently three in the morning in Los Angeles, 10 in the morning in Melbourne and instead lf sleeping on my lay-flat seat or watching the plethora of free movies in my fancy seat, I’m sitting with my laptop writing. Something I haven’t done in far too long. No, I’m definitely loving this, but it’s different this time. My world got smaller this week. Suddenly far away seemed a lot closer, far off lands seemed much more within my grasp.
This job, this trip - it’s something I’ve always wanted and looked forward to even – but in the same breath it’s a bit sad. Growing up, you’re rarely aware when something in your life changes, it happens and only time and growth allow you the hindsight to become aware of it. It’s a blessing really, growing up is hard enough, it’s too much to expect you to be aware that it’s happening at the same time. However this time I was wide-awake and felt it happen, am feeling it happen. It’s rare that you get that feeling anymore and so as I sit here, on the upstairs portion of an airplane somewhere over the Pacific, I am 10 feet above the level I’ve been at all the preceding 29 years of my life and I don’t think that I can ever go back down, or go back.
posted by Steddy at
3:17 AM
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