11.06.2002 - 8:39 p.m.

If you fly in the daytime, it doesn�t feel that different�it is only that you are higher in the mix of earth, air, and sky. When you fly at night, it is more than mere altitude. The ground glitters in yellow and white lines and squares; they twinkle; in no other way can parking lots be so beautiful. The clouds are still impossible to see through, but now they are dark with silvery edges like the setting for a dream sequence.

There is a moment immediately after you break through the cloud-level when you can see the edges of everything. You look up, but instead of blue sky there is only the beginning of space, only Orion winking back at you from elsewhere in the void. You are next to the world, not in it. And not long after that, the city lights have stopped shining up through the clouds and you can only see the reflection of your own sweater.

It is good to be back.

It is even better that there are only two days left in the week.

-stonebridge

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