NY Trip - Taking Off

This past weekend I took off to NY for the long awaited and planned for '5 year CIA Reunion'. None of us in the class were able to attend the one put on by the CIA so we formed our own little reunion. And, that's the key word...small. Everyone seemed so gung-ho in the beginning of the year and when it came around to it...there were 5 of us. It was still fun and we just decided that the others were missing out.
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Starting out on the plane ride over there I left Indy at 6am, after just 3 hours of sleep from the night before. The plane ride was just a short 1 1/2 hour ride, non-stop into Newark. I had the coveted single window seat on the small plane, and fell asleep shortly after take off.

When I awoke the sun was just coming up over the horizon and it was so gorgeous it prompted me to write. Pressed up against the wall in the last row, I took pictures from my window in seat 19A. The following is what I wrote that morning, my mind feeling very inspired from the sunrise out my window. Some parts of it are a bit cheezy I know but I was feeling good.
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Awaking on the plane to NYC I become strikingly aware of how long it'd been since I watched the sun come up. I sat in my seat in awe and contentedness with my back aching from all the work and strain I've been putting on it lately. It was here I realized that life is for climbing mountains and watching the sunrise - this sunrise in the plane was like a metaphor for my life. Change, a new beginning was on the horizon - just peaking up above the clouds.

My life is about the shine and shine brightly. It all the sudden was as clear as the morning sun from the plane what I must do. Life is short. I feel in the last 6 weeks I've beat myself down, become a mad wreck and just a mere shadow of who I really am. I'm a mess mentally and physically. A change is on my horizon, about to peak it's rays over the clouds.

It's amazing how one sunrise can mean so much, almost bring you to tears there in seat 19A. I can sit here and get excited about new adventures to come. About my own unique and exciting adventures. So glorious, so beautiful, so breathtaking.

Down below the fog settles in the valleys and at the base of the lush, rolling green hills. I have such a strong desire to walk the wandering paths I can see below. And to drive on the small, winding, two lane roads leading to someone's paradise outside the city. As we approach our landing you can start to see fall in the trees. What appeared to be all green from above now starts to come into focus with golds, browns, yellows and the occasional fire red. Ahh, a North Eastern fall, so glorious.

I am now starting to get excited for this adventure. I really needed to get away from the MidWest, I was starting to go stir crazy. There's just something very draining and unhealthy feeling about that land locked state. There's not enough nature.

It's 43 degrees here, much better than the 95 we had last week in Indiana. As we get closer to the city the roads start to get larger and there are less trees and more houses. Then, off in the distance, withing the fog and morning sun reflecting off the Hudson river...NYC. Such a familiar and homey site, so comforting.