Award-winning Baltimore poet Elizabeth Hazen weighs the pros and cons of sitting in the pilot’s seat.
When my best friend told me she was giving herself a flight lesson for her birthday, I did not envy her role as pilot, but I longed to be a passenger in the plane. After a lifetime of struggling to be in control, I now find myself tempted to hand over the keys. With someone else in the driver’s seat, there’s a chance I might find the time and space to think my way beyond the daily grind.
The first visit home from college is not without its bumps…
With painstaking attention to her preferences, I spent time last week preparing for Emily’s first return from college. She has been gone since August 23, and while my husband and I have seen her once, during Parents’ Weekend on her campus, she has not been home for almost three months. We have really been looking forward to having Emily home for Thanksgiving, picturing lingering meals, with no pressure to be anywhere else, and easy, joyful conversations, maybe with me sitting on the end of her bed.
