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My “ old normal” was interrupted a few months ago, on March 8, 2020 when we received the announcement that our boys’ school was closing.
Our world here in Spain began to change, and I know that your world—wherever you are on the globe—also began to change.
It’s been weird. It’s been strange. It’s been scary.
We have all had to create a “new normal.” I confess that I haven’t always liked it.
There are a few things that I like about my “new normal”—more time with family, not packing school lunches, not running all over town six days a week to take my boys back and forth to soccer, time to explore some of my creative passions.
But, there are a lot of things that I miss. I miss hanging out with my friends and work colleagues. I miss going to church every Sunday. I miss watching my boys play soccer on Saturdays. I miss going to the local outdoor market down the street on Wednesday mornings. I miss my Spanish classes at the tapas bar and the community center in town.
What I Haven’t Missed
One of the things that I haven’t missed at all is the sound of airplanes.
We live near a major, international airport, so you can imagine what we hear day after day.
Yes, airplanes! Lots of airplanes!
After living here in Spain for over 10 months now, we had gotten used to hearing the loud, distant roar of airplanes as they flew over our heads and house all day and all night.
When travel bans sprung up all over the the globe, the world seemed to come to a sudden halt.
A “hush” seemed to overtake the world.
“Airplanes have stopped flying,” I wrote in my recent poem. “The World is Hushed.”
It’s been a nice break for our family to not hear airplanes. Perhaps it is in the divine design of the world to clean and clear out the atmosphere from its normal pollution and darkness.
Strange Silence
But, it’s been strange. The silence has been strange. When you live near a major, international airport, you become used to the rumbling in the sky.
Yes, the silence has been strange, unfamiliar, scary.
The sudden change indicated that something was wrong. Something was no longer there. Something different had come . . .
That something was . . . not normal.
After more than twelve weeks of total lockdown in Spain, we have come to accept our “new normal.” Not by choice, but by force. I’m sure you have too—in your part of the world.
Broken Silence
Yesterday morning, however, I went outside to sit in my back courtyard. I love the cool, early morning hours before the blazing sun peeks out his head and the Spanish heat beats down on the stone concrete.
I sat at the patio table, enjoying the nice fragrant breeze and the nearby chirping birds.
Getting out my journal, my pen, and my Bible, I began to reflect. I began to pray.
Suddenly, I heard it. I heard it in the distance. I heard it approaching me.
I couldn’t see it, but I could hear it.
I could hear something that I knew, something that I recognized.
It felt familiar. It felt comforting. It felt normal.
Immediately, I knew what it was. It was an airplane—a normal airplane. It wasn’t a military jet that we occasionally hear flying by from the local military base.
No, it was a normal airplane. It sounded normal. It sounded like a regular, passenger, commercial airplane flying in the air from one place to another . . . city to city, country to country . . . I didn’t know.
It didn’t matter. It surprised me, and it made me smile. It made me happy.
Yes, that passing airplane surprised me. It felt familiar. It felt comforting. It felt normal.
No, our world is not yet “normal,” but that old, familiar sound of the airplane made me think . . . perhaps “normal” is just around the corner.
—THE CULTURAL STORY-WEAVER
MY GIFT TO YOU—GET YOUR FREE EBOOK—”THE 5-DAY JOURNEY TO CULTURAL AWARENESS”!
LET’S WEAVE CULTURES!
What signs of hope have you seen in your part of the world? Are you seeing some signs that “normal” is just around the corner?
We invite you to tell us your own cultural stories and global adventures . . . as you engage with the world, breaking down barriers, building bridges, and “weaving cultures”! Write about them in the comment box below.
