Two ends of a flight.\u00a0 Picture this.
\n1. Flying out of Miami International airport on a bright, sunny day, flying north, in a small plane:
\nTo the left, smooth lines — the white strip of beach, parallel lines of orange and sand colored art deco buildings, fringed in green, green, green.\u00a0 Beyond: the muddy green-brown of the Everglades, stretching out to the blue horizon.\u00a0 To the right, bright blue water, shading to deep blue, out to the deepest blue where the sea meets the straight line of the sky.
\n2, Coming in to land at Cleveland Hopkins International on a picture-perfect autumn day:
\nA patchwork riot of color — green fields awaiting harvest, bordering brown fields freshly turned over for the winter rest.\u00a0 Pastel and Cotton candy-colored housing developments pop up in the midst of green farmland. Puffy clusters of orange, red, yellow, rust, and green — the trees are wearing their best clothes for my arrival.
\nIt may have been warmer in Miami, but I could never move away from the excitement of autumn color.\u00a0 The view from the sky as we passed over the tree-lined Cuyahoga valley was… breathtaking.
\nI’m happy to be back home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"