The Grand Canyon jigsaw is complete. The next challenge is a toy biplane. I shake the bits out onto a tray, count and itemise them. Going from two dimensions to three is easier than it looks, even for fingers that could never get the hang of playing the piano. What emotions linked the mountains of Arizona to my little plane?
I am reminded of flying eastwards once, above the Rockies, as an electric storm began to light up the clouds. Suddenly I felt the onset of turbulence that is signalled when the bell sounds and the passengers return to fasten their seatbelts. Invisible turbulence can come at any time out of a clear blue sky. All the reasoning in the world is of no avail at that moment. The pilot, detouring, took us around the storm, high, higher than Everest where the jetstream winds blow almost continually. I had the thrill of fear, of falling out of the sky, like Icarus in Joni Mitchell's tribute song to Amelia Earhart, ' ascending on beautiful foolish arms.'
How crazy it is, feet on the ground at less than 100 feet above sea level, to relive this panic. As my not very dextrous fingers screw the tiny plates and bolts together I repeat Psalm 119:73 Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.'
Yes - how suddenly we are tested sometimes.....this describes it perfectly.
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