Cassy’s Corner- Ballooning

I have never been in a hot air balloon before yesterday. The real deal. Huge balloon, tiny basket where three of us barely fit (pilot, my husband and I). We watched as they fired up the canopy. It took three men all working constantly to ready the balloon.  The balloon is huge.  We lifted gently off the ground. The only sounds are the wind and the fire jets of heat intermittently sent into the balloon to keep us afloat.

There is no steering device, so you go where the wind takes you. Yesterday was not a windy day, hence part of my story.

The two men who didn’t join us on the flight drove a “chase car” and were in communication via walky-talky with our pilot so they always knew where we were. Truthfully the balloon is so large and bright green I’m not sure they could have missed us.

We got to about 10,000 feet. It was incredible. The flight is worth blogging about but truly isn’t my point.

My point is in thinking about how we perceive our world. With little wind we really didn’t travel a huge distance. The area we covered was well known to us. My husband would gesture to a restaurant we love to frequent. He’d show me a road and remind me that we take that path to a nearby town. He helped keeping me aware of the landmarks. I was lost.

Here was the area I have driven for four years. I know these roads. I know the ways of getting from one place to another. I know the landmarks. NO. Not true.

From the air the appearance of the landscape I thought I knew was totally different.

It gave me thought. Here was an area I know well. But when the perspective was changed so was my connection. I was lost.

My husband touched my arm, “Honey, there’s Radicondoli.”

Of course I thought. Of course it is. But, it’s not the Radicondoli I know.

So, what do we know. We sit at our computers happily typing away. We create people who live with us for many months. But here was a space I thought I knew. Yet I did not.

Coming from the sky changed my image. It has forced me to think of perception and of attitude. We see things as we choose. But there are moments when we realize that a new experience creates a fully different perspective. Looking at what I thought  knew from so many feet above taught me I really don’t know. As with our writing, we are comfortable with our habits. Yet, as they are changed we discover we have new possibilities.