This is my life.
That was me identifying with George Clooney five minutes into the movie. The perfectly compartmentalized suitcase that fits ever so snugly into the overhead cabin. The swift routine of getting through the airport security line that only comes with weekly practice. The smugness of cutting in front of everyone else at the check in counter. The careful calculation of miles and points as if they were important milestones in life. The three course dinners and cocktails at the hotel bar. The empty hotel room that feels almost like home. The slight sense of unfamiliarity walking into my own house. The occasional disorientation as I stare up at the arrival/departure monitor trying to remember if I was going somewhere or just came back.
At least we don’t fly all over the place to fire people for a living, we consoled one another as we left the theater. Yes, you also spend your Friday nights going to the movies with coworkers. In my case, it’s by choice. Sometimes, it’s a matter of necessity.
This isn’t a complaint against MY traveling life. Then again, I’ve been lucky to have met some of the most adventurous people who happened to be my coworkers. People willing to venture to the nearest hole-in-the-wall Peruvian restaurant or set out for a spontaneous trip to Barcelona. People I can play silly pranks on or cry about my really-not-so-miserable-but-sometimes-feels-that-way life. People that I wouldn’t have gotten a chance to know otherwise, but became as close as I could let anyone be. But as I settle back into my old life, the one that’s not out of a suitcase, I do think about how much faster life passes by when you are on the road, when time is marked by the weekly routine of checking in and checking out, and everything else is placed on hold indefinitely for the day you get off the road.
There are some things I didn’t get to choose in life. But I chose to be up in the air. I enjoy the excitement of landing somewhere new, and exploring what it has to offer. I may have missed some memory making at home, but I think I made it up in adventures elsewhere. I’m lucky to have that choice, and I’m luckier to have a home to come back to.
Life is going to pass by without my permission no matter what. The wonderful moments will fade into memory as quickly as the not so great ones. You can’t ask the past to come back or go away, but the future? That’s still up in the air 🙂
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