A Trip to Norway - Day 1 - Departure: Travel Reflections

A plane in mid-flight during sunset

I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my plane to board. It's been delayed three times so far.

My son and I are taking a trip to celebrate his high school graduation. I've done this with all three of my children. I wanted my kids to experience a world outside of the town they grew up in.

So far, day one of his trip, what my son has learned seems to be that flights are unpredictable!

Travel makes me feel small, in a way. I see these countless people walking by, living their lives and I think about the enormity of the world, how many of us there are, and I wonder about their stories. The webs that connect us, as a species, are too intricate and vast for me to truly fathom - but I enjoy the effort anyway.

I think about how fleeting this life is, and how small each of us is within the context of human history or measured against the lifespan of the planet - or the galaxy.

In all of that, I am infinitesimal.

A few years ago, these thoughts overwhelmed me and made me feel meaningless. Now, though, I find it freeing, in a way. Because nothing I do can really matter on a scale that massive. So I don't need to reach for that.

I once read something (perhaps in a book I read about Buddhism, but don't quote me on that) that said, in essence, "If nothing matters, then all that matters is this." At the time, I couldn't wrap my head around it, but now I think I can.

The way I matter is in this moment. In the lives of the people I love and in the lives of those with whom I interact. So focusing on right here, right now, is enough. A hundred years from now, no one will remember I was here, or at the very least no one will remember who I was. I'll be a name in long line of names, but nothing more.

And that's ok. That's the reality for most of us. I've learned that it's ok to just be the best human I can be while I'm here. That's enough, and so I am. So are you.