Darkness in the Night

“And so she woke up, from where she was lying still, said we got to do something about where were going…step on a steam train, step out of the driving train, maybe run from the darkness in the night…” – U2

The conventional wisdom among those of us who are referred to as “road warrior” is that red eyes are the worst flights to take. They usually take off late. The flights are never long enough to get a full nights rest. People take their shoes off (please stop that, seriously!) and generally smell bad. I can go on and on and on with all the reasons I hear why red eyes are terrible. There is genuine ill feeling when it comes to that late evening flight. I however do not share this sentiment.

//side note: I’m not sure where the term “road warrior” came from but, like the yellow short sleeve with a tie look, it needs to go away! Anyone who wears Levi Kaki Pants, a blackberry attached to their belt, and one of those dorky Bluetooth headsets coming out their ear does not deserve to have the word “warrior” associated to what they do in ANY WAY. I’m embarrassed to be associated with the name. The danger of a potential paper cut does not a warrior make//

I actually love red eyes. I never really thought about why until tonight but there is something about red eyes that make me feel like I’m escaping, cloaked in the cover of darkness. One early evening I’m in Phoenix having drinks with you on a patio, the next morning when you call, I’m in Boston. Magic! There is something about taking off and taking flight while everyone else is brushing their teeth and coming up with excuses as to why they can’t have sex with their partner, missing yet another moment in life they’ll never get back. Something about the bizarreness of how everything looks and feels like it does when you fly during the day, but it’s not. It’s quite. It’s peaceful. People keep to themselves, they are nicer, they smile more, like we all have this “need to suffer through the red eye” bond. I’ve had the most interesting conversations in the waiting area. There is also something cool about sitting in the dark plane, looking out the window into the night, watching the moon bounce on the clouds she lights up. Magic!

My favorite part of the experience is waking up the city you are visiting. Just as we start descending, you catch a glimpse of the sun rising on the horizon. The colors of the sunrise from the air are breathless, and it is the only time I look out the window of my exit row seat. You come out of the terminal, the city is just walking up and you get to see what she “looks like in the morning.” Isn’t it the first time you wake up with her when you decide, “yea, this might be the one” or, "oh, there's no way I'm waking up with her next to me again." When it's the former, every morning after that is proof that you and her have a special kind of relationship, one in which you wake up together to take on the world. These are the moments, just as the city wakes up, before anything of significance happens, in which you can see her true colors, without the make up, without the hair all done up, without all the masks and costumes. You get to see her, who she really is. I love those moments.

About this time last year, I met one of my new best friends. We had a common friend who put two and two together and arranged for us to meet in the terminal. We were both on the red eye to New York City. We had that great conversation in the waiting area, boarded the flight, and connected again after we landed. We decided to share a cab into the city. It turned out to be one of my favorite experiences in the past year. I don’t know why. Maybe it was the way the sun was rising over Queens when we walked out of the terminal. There was that city haze, suggesting that it was going to be a warm and sunny day. Maybe it was the thick summer city air, blowing through the rolled down windows of the 1992 yellow cab we were in. Maybe it was the conversation, and how we just jumped, no dove right in like we’ve been friends for five years and are catching up after not seeing each other for a while. Maybe it was all the newness going on in my life at the time. I was in a really good place in my life. I was me. I was happy. I was hopeful. I was at peace with who I am and the baggage I carried. I looked to my future with giddiness and excitement. I was falling in...Maybe it was a combination of things, but a year later I can visualize the entire experience. We became friends for life in those moments. Magic!