A sparkling new 787 spins up its engines on the tarmac at Ben Gurion Airport and we settle in for a flight to London. Before we gain our cruising altitude I am thinking about THEMES. The trip has piqued my interest in origins, the Palestinian/ Israeli situation, religion, security and the notion of Cradles of Civilization. Bo Az was certainly correct when he flatly stated that we would be more confused than ever after our experience on the ground in the Middle East.
In short order we are on the ground in Heathrow and since we are on a British Airways flight , we have minimal airport transitioning to do… BA has its own self-contained terminal. Happy thoughts include the fact that we will see our grandkids in a few hours. One of my favorite guys-Oliver Wendell Holmes- once said , “where we love is home – home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.” My home is about kids and grandkids and I am getting ever closer.
We change planes for the flight from London to New York and in mid-Atlantic we encounter 200 mph headwinds; the bouncing is not unlike our shipboard days on the Mediterranean sea. During the chuff and bounce, I am thinking about acquiring the books and resources that might help me understand what I have seen and heard. I know little about the Palestinian cause and have forgotten much of the mythology I studied in school. Seems a good idea to start there.
Before long we are eating cheeseburgers in a Hilton Garden Inn in Jamaica Bay with American voices, currency, menus and television all around us. We designed our flights to include a stop-over in New York for my marathoning wife’s pre-race needs. Coming home, we wished we had a direct fight. In the morning we will board a final flight to the West Coast.
Touching down in Seattle – in the required rainstorm – the thought that that our trek was not long enough bubbles up. What a gift is the notion that after more than a month on the road you are ready for more. Still, I want that quiet time surrounded by books and kids.
Home is the nicest word there is .
Olio Folio 
Adding a couple in weeks in Morocco before this trip only exacerbated the confusion Bo Az guaranteed us. It provided another component of the “origins” theme and the evolution of cultures in a given area. Though our mutual trip certainly provided opportunity for confusion, ancient and current, Morocco definitely expanded that perspective on cultural evolution and conflict in Northern Africa and the Middle East. For me, the whole trip reinforced my prior confusion trying to understand the millennia of history we witnessed and comparing it to the 250 yr. westernized US history, where in a few places on one might find a layer or two of physical architectural history, and a bit more should one choose to dig through the middens of our Native cultures.
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What a great trip. I look forward to discussing where your inquiries go from here.
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