Saturday, September 7, 1974
Anticipation may be a greater joy than realization. However I greatly anticipated this trip, squeezing out all the adventure I could from every stage in its development. On the last lap of my preparations I was calm, unusually so and not too excited. I was old enough to accept without qualms what the future held for me and was even anxious to fly across an ocean for the first time in my long life. Yesterday Daddy drove me to Rosemary's where she and I made final packing preparations in, as usual, a relaxed atmosphere. Up early to-day to find out that the weather had changed, it was unusually cold. We all, Joe, Rose, Joey rode to Pittsburgh airport where I bought my round trip ticket to Boston, processed the luggage, had handbag checked, and went to our gate with Fiorills to await the plane. My farewell to them was a loving one before I boarded the plane for my trip into the "wild blue yonder". No matter how often I will fly I don't think I could ever lose my awe and my expectation of unparalleled visual delights. This ride, smooth and uneventful, proved no exception - reading high above the carpet of frothy pure white clouds I seemed to be suspended between heaven and earth. In fact this carpet of snowy beauty had for many years been my imaginative conception of heaven - the ultimate beauty. At one tie we seemed to be riding into impenetrable straight hills, but it separated for us. All I could think of was Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Lord, thou hast made the world too beautiful this year."
