Traevelling 30,000 feet above the ground on my way back to Chicago, it’s hard not to think about distance and space. How people in the same room can still feel worlds apart while others can be physically separated by hundreds of miles and still be intimately connected. Traditional modes of measurement fail when it comes to matters of the heart. I feel the push and pull of these forces currently at play within me as I sit on a plane, wanting to distract myself with some mindless movie or loud music or just close my eyes and sleep. The plane, at its current altitude, disconnects my phone from the pages, texts and alerts waiting on the ground, freeing me for a short while from their intrusion.
To be intertwined with someone else. To belong to something greater than yourself. A family or community? To have purpose beyond ourselves. To give and receive. To be connected. These thoughts lead my brain back to chemistry and physics and learning of forces and attraction between molecules. I recall the weaker ionic bonds, able to be disrupted by water alone. I remember organic chemistry and the tight sharing of electrons between carbon atoms, and its strong covalent connection. I think of the ultimate overwhelming gravitational force of a black hole from which nothing can escape.
In the past, those descriptions were just notes jotted down on paper. Simple lines to memorize to later regurgitate verbatim on a test or quiz. At the time, I did not have the capacity to truly understand those ideas. Now I find deeper meaning in these concepts. The invisible attraction exerted by gravitational forces and tight bonds cause visible and tangible effects. We learn of the “potential” within these bonds, to hold and store power and energy which I have felt in the pounding of my heart and in the heat of my salty tears. The paradox being that the strength within the bonds of connection that help withstand stress and strain can also cause disruption and damage.
How then to find equipoise and balance? Where this connectedness provides stability and strength to move forward, instead of collapsing under its own weight.
It is in this space that I am floating at the moment. Physically, 30,000 feet above the earth, yet right next to Madison in Southern Oregon and Maya back home in Northbrook. Can they feel me with them right now? Do they know how much they are in my thoughts? Do they feel the same tug on their hearts and in their core? And if so, does it feel safe and warm and a source of comfort and confidence? Or is it heavy and weighty and overwhelming and constricting?
The change of pressure on my ears signals the beginning of the plane’s descent back to earth. The thirty minutes or so left on this flight leaves nowhere near enough time to climb out of this rabbit hole in which I find myself. But this is why I chose to go part-time. To find time and space to wrap my mind around these questions. It was too infrequent and rare to have the emotional energy and capacity to sit with and work through these issues
The plane lands and Becky and I disembark, still a bit disoriented with my ears plugged and cumulative fatigue of the weekend. I find myself adjusting to the changing forces of connection, now that I am two thousand miles closer to my daughter, but that much farther from my son. But I sense this is a new theme in my life. Navigating time and space with those you love and balancing the benefit of the power of connection with the weight of its strength. And in this moment, these invisible forces couldn’t be more tangible, as my heart is pulled in all sorts of directions.