I had seen them
land and take off
a thousand times
the airplanes would bring
and take people to
a new land;
a place where anything
was possible.
My dad would drive them
to and from the airport
and I sat in the back seat
of his blue ’49 Buick,
the one with the
Nova transmission and
the leaky fuel tank.
The automatic doors
at the airport would open
people walked in and out
of what felt like
another dimension
and I stood there,
hand holding my father’s
wondering what it
was like to fly high
in the sky
to go somewhere without
restrictions on how much
food we could have.
The years passed and
our turn finally came
we went through those doors
and we sat on that plane
“Do you like it?” Mom asked
as the turboprop hurried
down the runway—
until it went fast enough
to get picked up by
the air.
I smiled as we climbed
and for the first time
the clouds were carpeted
under my feet
and through all the excitement
of a dream coming true
a small twinge of sadness
made my eyes wet
for an instant realizing I
would never again
sit in the back of
that old Buick
again.