chicken, or beef?

and numbers.

neatly folded into a less than forgiving seat, safely buckled down to a stale cushion, wide-eyed, i am on a b747-400 aircraft.
561 mph.
6,073 miles.
403 seats.
5 exits.
2 stories.
1 empty seat.
next stop, tokyo.

for the past month doug and i have been thumbing through america. michigan. kentucky. tennessee. alabama. it has been familiarly pleasant and physically exhausting, although we have been fortunate enough to share hugs, laughs, and heapings of home-cooking with family and friends. i got to visit the 'cherry capital of the world' and tastefully earn a well-deserved belly ache. put my toes in lake michigan, and freefall from 10,000 feet. there's so much to recall that journeling is most certainly the only way not to lose touch with the last months escapades. i've made a list. i always do.
...cherries. sleeping bear sand dunes. sunflowers. chip furbitz. the state theatre. cherries. turtle creek casino. beer hunting with brad. cherry bounce. skydive harbor springs. smoked gouda mashed potatoes...cherries.
had days of laughter from doug's charming grandparents- and even spent some time in my sleepy hometown; a place that sits so still, where people never ever change, and never ever will.
...chased the dog. napped a lot. paid taxes. lost my iPod in a tequila storm.
and the people i've hugged, i've hugged so many people. momma, brandon, doug, melissa, clint, brooke, dad, shelly, mere, mikey. all squeezes that are sure to remind me to write, laugh, and love all across southeast asia.

so far, we're nearly nine hours into a flight to tokyo- skipping quickly over the pacific, my watch reads 11:10 pm, the sun is shining, the dateline rapidly approaching, my eyes are bobbing, my toes cold, and i just finished reading 'harry potter and the sorcer's stone'. i'm quiet possibly the only person i know not to have tackled the magical series. no doubt i'll dream of dragon and owls, potions and wizards. doug is reading about vampires.

yellow fades to black, circling blue. light enthralled with dark, and prisms of color escape and delight. circumnavigate and twinkle. my eyes cross fade between rapid lashes and constant color. now blue swirling semicircles dance above golden pinwheels. it's true, i'm developing jet lag. soon- my eyes will give to the synapses firing thoughts of sleep.
more tales from vietnam.