Stepping down, stepping away, just for a little while

The gentleman across the table from me in the Presidents Club is heading to Geneva in an hour. The guy next to me on my flight was a little confused and a lot angry that he was landing in Newark and not New York. The Security Agent barked to no one in particular but the whole lot of us in general, If you do not listen to me, I will not look at you.

Noted, tough guy.

All around me a rush to gates, a rush against the clock, an air of self-importance, heavy sighs while the woman jostles her twin toddlers and her carry-on baggage through security. The masses moving through their departure waits and layover transfers.

It goes on around me but I do not feel connected, cannot be bothered by it one single bit. I missed my flight this morning, was told there was a long standby list on the next flight but reassured that I would be able to get out by the afternoon. No worries. I was called on the next flight and surprised by my Business First seat. I've now spent an extra two hours in Houston and the last three hours here getting some work done -- the delay in my schedule provided me the time and distance I needed to focus.

I am midway between the here that is home and the there that is where I will relax for the next week. The past three days have drained me to my toes emotionally. The past several weeks have been draining professionally. To the word, I am tired. Two weeks ago, I picked up the phone to my dear friend and told her, After Labor Day weekend, I need to spend some time with you. She agreed that's what I would need. So that's where I'm going. To Vermont. Where I'll find a nourishing dose of her life and her friendship. I'll be where things move a lot slower than the pace I've grown accustomed to lately. Where I'll have time to sit in an Adirondack chair on her back porch and allow a thought to move from start to finish, uninterrupted, or maybe watch the path of a fluttering moth along the ferns on the hill. Where I can walk a rocky trail and listen to a stream. Where I can pray and be still enough to hear my prayer returned.

Where two precious little girls informed me on the phone this afternoon that there are big sunflowers in a vase in my room. And when are you going to get here?