Dream – a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal
Have you ever wanted something so badly that it permeated your every thought? Nothing you did could keep that one thing from your mind for very long….
Now imagine that dream being shared across an entire species through time and space.
From the beginning of time humans were looking up and wondering. Dreaming…
Of all the abilities of every species on the face of the planet, one was very limited. Beast of land were free to go into the ocean and swim. Even some creatures from the sea were able to venture onto land. Of all the amazing and fanciful creatures on the planet, only the select few with wings could leave the surface at will and FLY where they wanted as they pleased. Humans could not.
Humans could, however, dream and dream we did.
From the mythology of Daedalus and Icarus through the Wright Brothers with the Kitty Hawk right to modern day with the sorely missed Concorde, A350, Antonov AN-225 Mriya, and even the aptly named Dreamliner. We have dreamed and continue to dream so many dreams of flight. Maybe that’s why one of my favorite movies is A City In The Sky which explains so much of this side of the world of flight.
After years of looking to the skies and telling myself so many tales of the people and places the planes above me had seen and been seen by across the world, I have moved into the field of aviation. I do a variety of things in the actual airport for an airline. From ticketing, to the boarding gate, and the baggage service office there are no dull moments and no shortage of amazing people with dreams.
The more I get to know the various, dope, individuals across the many disciplines and companies in this industry, the more I realize we all landed (get it?) here in pursuit of dreams. We came for varied reasons and many have sundry destinations but we are united by one commonality. We’re birds and we were all meant to fly.
Daily, airlines take to the skies for many reasons ranging from leisure and sport to cargo and medical. Individuals on this side of the industry also have our much more personal reasons to to fly.
There’s the multiple time founder that created his first airline to bring humanity back to travel. There’s the airport operations agent that came to be able to fly, at will, between her parents on separate coasts. There’s the cool Air Traffic Controller who saw the wildness of the skies and said “I can handle this.” There are more than a few pilots that took flight to be able to go back to The Bahamas and Jamaica to show their mom, family, and communities the world. I guess you can say the travel benefits of being a bird or being related to a bird are pretty amazing.
I can remember very vividly, the ground operations agent that was ADAMANT that his son should have the much better seat for their trip to LAX if a choice had to be made. Rest easy Chuck.
I, as is often the case, am complicated with my reasons for joining the world of birds. I learned about the world of flight early and a bit dramatically. The pilots flying then may not have known but, they were flying to save a life. My brother was flying MIA to MEM and back at least once a month to receive life saving treatment at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
From there I dreamed of flying to the corners of the world to bring more children to treatment and all of the fascinating, happy places I read about in the encyclopedias and borrowed magazines sprawled all over the floor.I still call my mum before every trip to remind her she’s the one that sparked the idea and opened the door to the world.
In recent years I have started to travel farther and more often. Road trips and chartered flights were the primary means of domestic travel. Many, many miles chasing a pigskin with 130 of my closest friends. If I was going international, it was usually with family or friends that are de facto family on a plane.
In none of these trips did my travel partners truly understand my obsession with every aspect of the travel process. Even the way I looked at planes confused many of them. They understood it much more when I moved my life trajectory from one field to a completely different one. I jumped from a field where I had been very passionate and effective over into the field of dreams.
From the beginning it has been both rewarding and taxing. There have been some long and odd hours with no shortage of interesting happenings. There’s also this weird new ability. Imagine saying “I get off at 1100 today so I’ll fly up to have cheesecake in NYC since I have to be there for the new release and come back before the family trip tomorrow” or , much more importantly, putting a coworker (still in uniform) on a flight to catch his dad’s last moments in this world.
That one broke me down. My fingers had never moved so fast to book a ticket. I looked up and another agent handed me a tissue and reminded me that’s the beauty of this field, we can come and go as we please or need even when it hurts like that one.
Right now, at my first year in, the entire field is hurting as most of the world is gripped by the first modern pandemic. Far fewer planes are flying. The terminals are empty.
Our world is living a nightmare right now. As we navigate through this weather, the one dream we all hold to is the oldest dream, flight. We still dream of going places to see and experience different vibes and cultures. We dream of holding and hugging loved ones we cannot get to in this very moment.
Holding to that collective dream from all aspects is how we hold hope that this will all pass and the dream will live on. The planes will return from the deserts and the seats will fill again. The dream that allows humanity to dream will live on.
Welcome to The Field of Dreams
Gratuitous aircraft photos because I’m an #AvGeek and it’s what we do 🤷🏽♂️
Oh! This guy is definitely dreaming and ready to fly!
Much love and thanks to the family and friends that pushed and supported me in these bird-brained dreams! Much more to come!
Thank you for stopping by. Feel free to follow me on social media @ RandyHenleyJr for Twitter, IG, and Cashapp if you want to go in on these flight lessons 🤣🤷🏽♂️
Hopefully I’ll see you again soon in the friendly skies or crossing paths in an airport. Until then, hold tight and be safe. We’re bound to fly again.