Crossing the Atlantic

Madelyn and I have been writing together every month for a few years now.
She turned 97 years old this month. Here is what we wrote today.

Crossing the Atlantic
by Madelyn Phillips O'Neil

What a pity that airplanes were invented.
No more 5-7 days looking out of my porthole at the sea
or lying peacefully in my steamer chair on deck
watching people walk by (ten times around the deck was half a mile)
with a good book in my lap, a cup of hot bouillon in my hand.
Just utter quiet, thinking of the sea around me, smelling the salt air,
knowing that nothing would happen during those days on board.
Just the ocean...until the the first bird on the mast predicted land.
Land again.
How strange it will feel.
We teeter as we walk on it.


Crossing the Atlantic
Barbara McLean O'Neil

In 1965, the year I first crossed the Atlantic, air travel had become fairly common. In early spring, my mother announced to my brother John and me that we would be taking a trip around the world the next summer. My father had been given two first class tickets to attend an important conference in the Philippines. Instead they would trade in the tickets for economy class and the three of us would meet him in Manilla after making stops along the way.

London, Rome and New Delhi would be our first three stops. Next, to Thailand to visit my brother Don who was a Peace Corps volunteer in a small town north of Bangkok. From there to the Philippines with Donny joining us. Stops in Tokyo, Hawaii and San Francisco led us back to the United States, then home to Boston just in time for school to start.

I was twelve years old. My first thought on hearing the plan was, “What if the plane crashes?” I couldn’t express this fear to anyone. I was expected to be excited about this marvelous trip that we would be taking. So I kept quiet.

Summer arrived. At each departure point, as I sat in the plane looking out the round window, seat belt securely fastened, the large plane beginning to make it’s way to the runway I said a short prayer asking for our safe arrival to the next destination. It made me feel better as I looked down at endless blue/grey rippling water, brown snaking rivers, densely forested mountaintops and twinkling lights far below. Although we did experience some bumpy plane rides on the trip, especially over mountains, all went smoothly.

I still say a short prayer before taking off in a plane. Now I pray for everyone who travels, not just me, wishing them all safe passage home.