Kids’ imagination is limitless and takes them to navigate in a wealthy world of possibilities. They don’t know yet what’s not possible, so they invent and discover it. No fear.
Education and negative experiences, in equal measure, teach them to surrender and follow the norms of another world – about the size of the universe – of fear. No more imagination.
It was Friday early afternoon, and as I boarded a plane, I learned that we would wait another 30 minutes before taking off.
I set my phone to airplane mode and got ready to read a book that I had waited for with excitement. A paper version! Lately, I’m rediscovering the pleasure of touching the paper, and writing notes in my books.
I heard an interesting conversation that became more enticing than my book, though.
In front of my row, sat the little, gorgeous girl, who coincidently had approached me at the gate, bringing me to play along with her emulation of an airplane.
Her imagination was still turned on. We were still waiting for the captain to announce the departure but without hesitation, she turned to her parents, sitting next to her, and said: “We are flying, can I have my crisps now?” Her father replied: “We’re not flying yet, just moving to another gate.” Her imagination was not only on, but she was in it, and her parents became as hopeless and captivated, as all of us in the row behind, when she swiftly interjected: “I see Mallorca there. Can you see that building over there? It’s our hotel, mummy!”
Being in the plane was the journey, and who cares about the destination? Isn’t that what the old saying says? Children probably invented it.
She got her crisps and took a nap. She was probably already swimming at the hotel pool, whilst we were still looking at the real clouds out there.
As I tried to head back to my book to sip some fabricated fantasy, the captain announced that we were flying over Paris, then Barcelona, to meet a 26 degrees Celsius warm welcome from Mallorca in Spain.
We, adults, may never again imagine like kids do.
Real life though, can be just like in our imagination, if we look at the world around us through a window of possibilities, and buy a plane ticket to sunnier destinations.
The featured photo was taken from a mountain tunnel, overseeing one of Mallorca’s beaches, Torrent.
Sights & Insights 
Lovely photo, Lucile, and hurrah for real books. I prefer them, although when I travel overseas, my Kindle is of inestimable value, as I can take hundreds or thousands of books with me in that one small bit of technology. I’m happy you got a child with an imagination in front of you and not one crying and screaming. 🙂 One thing I learned when we were traveling with the girls when they were little–food and drink are vital. You can’t reason well with a hungry child!
janet
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Thank you, Janet. I do the same but lately, I have brought at least one paperback with me.
I had to laugh at your comment because on the way back home there was a screaming child behind us! Real tantrum, and no offer of food or activity could stop her. I guess she was simply tired.
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Ver true
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I love your take on windows in these pictures. Sometimes I wonder if all our devices today rob children of the opportunity to develop imagination? Glad you got to travel alongside a hopeful small person.
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Kids have their own imagination. Check out a small poem by my daughter.
Follow the blog if you find it interesting.
https://www.obsoletereality.com/
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Thanks for commenting. I’ll check it out.
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Great little story. I still savor the journey (most times), but wish I still had some of that childlike imagination when crammed into a tiny airplane seat!
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Thank you, Lexie. I wish I had that imagination too, instead of being irritated with the flight delay.
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