Flying Nomads

I met an old friend today at the library… again.

I had bought the book A gift of Wings by Richard Bach some years ago. I read a few essays and then put the book away. It sat on the bookshelves for a few years. Then I donated it to the library.

My local library takes the books donated by people and sells them at a deep discounts to raise funds for the library.

A couple of years ago, I bought the book back from the library and brought it home. I read a few more essays and then a year later, donated it back to the library.

I was browsing through the used books sales and came across the book again, in almost the same spot where I had seen it last time. I brought it back.

In case you”re wondering, it is a book of essays that Bach had written many years before he published his original masterpiece, Jonathon Livingston Seagull. The essays were published in various periodicals, including magazines on flying and airplanes. Some are technical, but most of them are about lifestyle design. Well, not exactly the way it is discussed these days, but they are all about being yourself and living a lifestyle of your own choosing.

I read one essay today and I am pumped. One of my dreams for as long as I can remember, well actually, since my college days when one of the students with very rich parents bought a plane took us on a ride in his private four-seater. There was something about being up there in that small airplane that has stayed with me for all these years and I think about having my own plane every now and again.

Sometimes, the Universe has to tell you over and over again, before you get the message. I get it now!

The question is not who is going to let me, it is who is going to stop me. — Anais Rand