places

Dear k-

I have been thinking about airports. For the most part, I like airports. In this day and age I know that might sound strange. Most people equate airports with long lines, stress, bitter cups of overpriced coffee, lost baggage, headaches…And I am not denying that all those things certainly exist at airports. I think what I like about airports is that they are a limbo. I have always been drawn towards transitional spaces. At the airport no one is permanent, everyone is en route, even the people who work there never truly seem to be established. They constantly rotate, change shifts, wander between gates, never limited to one post. So whenever I have a flight planned I arrive 2-3 hours early, even when I have a very early morning departure. I love to sit, headphones snuggly tucked into my ears, and watch. I watch people bustle to and fro, a family trying to make sure everyone is accounted for, a twenty-something turned face-in on a bench of seats, trying to sneak in a nap. Staring out the windows I watch the metal behemoths lift soundlessly into the air, as if they are just floating away with hardly any effort and I almost forget their bellies are seeded with human beings.

I think I also like airports because they satisfy my restlessness. To be in an airport means I am going somewhere. There is something ahead to anticipate. Even if the final destination is not a pleasant one, such as a funeral, I still feel a guilty contentment from the journey. I’ve wondered if I was forced to travel more frequently, such as for work, and if I spent more time in airports if they would lose their appeal. Would they become the dusty, dingy, stressful places that most people see them as?

I hope that is never the case.

-k