The Dinosaur Above

As autumn settles in securely bringing its measure of welcome rains after a hot, dry summer, the falling leaves and musty scents soften the sounds of bird and man alike in our backyard and the forest behind it. Hummingbirds still come around but now fewer in number, and the bright colours of Morning Glory and fuchsia make gracious way for the orange and red of fruit bushes and tree leaves. Ours is a quiet neighbourhood, and the sight of a jet plane overhead is rare. When it does occur, I find myself stopping in my tracks like a surprised child marveling at the roar of machine power in the sky. I used to travel a lot a lifetime ago, and even though my life with my husband and our son brings me great peace and happiness, a longing always escapes me like a silken sigh when a jet flies over our house and yard. It has been 14 years since I last flew, when we went to San Francisco for my husband's grandmother's funeral. When I saw a jet fly over our house a few days ago, I looked up and the image of a dinosaur came to mind, the way it flew so seemingly slow and the way its large body cast a strong shadow. I felt like I was in a time warp, looking up an an object I had never beheld close- up. Memories of airports so often visited for across ocean flights came to mind : Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Miami, Brussels, London,... I remember smiling, because I had the memories, so, I must have flown up there at one time, over a house , a backyard, even as far away as Lagos and Kinshasa, and Mexico City and Panama City. The lessons I am learning now are different and not unpleasant, and I am glad I had the chance to travel as much as I did as a college and graduate student. The dinosaur above felt like a visit from a well known friend, one perhaps out of grasp for many years now, but still very close to my beating, reminiscing heart. And even so, here in my garden, and here in my cozy house which is now my home I am still quite the traveler being so far away, thousands and thousands of miles, across an ocean, or two, from where I started as a Flemish woman a world ago. All around me, even after 38 years here as now an American citizen, with an American husband and American son, my world still remains a strange and often foreign place of strange tongue and custom, where I have made my way and blend in unnoticed to most but never to my own heart and mind.