I just returned from a short, three-day visit to San Francisco, followed by two days in New York. While flying to SF, I watched Up In The Air again. That's a picture of it on my little airplane screen. I must have dozed off when I saw it in the theater ... because there was a chunk I had not seen before. I really liked the film... classic.. simple -- with a deeply flawed yet somehow heroic(ish) main character. A big theme in the film is connectnedess vs. disconnectedness. Clooney plays a man who is very disconnected from family --- though, in a strange way, he is very connected to people in general, much more so, at first, than the young colleague who tags along with him on his journeys.
I have traveled a lot this last year and a half. The travel has let me connect with all sorts of people. Crucially, quite a lot the travel (much of it chronicled on this blog) has been WITH Kristin, Arel and Dorian. Luckily my work allows this--just like it allowed me to live in Barcelona, it allows me to travel around with my family and explore places --- and still be effective professionally.
Whether it is because of or in spite of all the traveling, I have felt less up-in-the-air and more grounded, connected than I have in a long, long time.
BTW... the flight to SF was one of the most beautiful I have been on in some time. The ice and the water was amazing. I wish I got a shot when we hit the Pacific coast and turned south at Point Reyes. Green hills. Gorgeous.
