Anywhere is Everywhere

From the window of our apartment overlooking the hills and the sea, I can watch the planes take off from the airport and hear the deep rumble of their engines as they gain altitude. In the morning, before the sun has risen, I watch their flashing lights grow smaller and smaller as they climb into the still dark sky. In the evening, I marvel as the late afternoon sun lights them up like comets shooting upward from the earth. Some people would not want to live near an airport, but I find it to be a comfort.

After a month in New Zealand, the novelty is starting to wear off and the weight of the reality of life here is beginning to bear down on me. I am still intoxicated by the beauty of this country, the friendliness of its people, and the more relaxed way of life that seems to be a part of the culture here. But I don’t know anyone, and nobody knows me. I feel so far away from everyone and everything I’ve ever known.

But then I look up again from my loneliness and watch another plane climb into the sky and I know that everything is closer than it seems. All I have to do is walk down the road, pay my fare, and I can be anywhere I want to be. And then I remember that it is even simpler than that. If I close my eyes and listen to my heart, I know that I am never alone and that anywhere is everywhere.