I had already flown on one plane that morning and here I was on another. This was much smaller and cramped than that one had been as well. Two columns with two seats each in what seemed to be a plastic tube meant to flight into the sky. I stared at the plane’s interior reminded of some sort of toy or play set magnified to a magnificent scale. That or I was shrunk down to fit the toy like in that movie Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. I figured after flying once the second time would be no problem, yet this time I was even more nervous than before. Memories crept in of three hours earlier, taking off from Philadelphia, watching the horizon go diagonal and thinking “Oh shit, that’s not possible”.

It truly is the anticipation that is the worst. It takes so long just for the plane to get moving, and after that it seems to crawl across the runway as if searching for the perfect parking spot. It’s almost as if watching the pendulum blade swing back and forth. At first your greatest fear is the cold metal slicing across your abdomen, but after some time the fear itself is the most agonizing torture. Your teeth grit and hands ball into tight white-knuckled fists, crying for the moment to just be over and done.

Then finally the plane speeds up, preparing to leave, and it is as if the blade finally makes contact. It’s sudden, surprising, and you gasp for breath as your body suddenly screams for you. How could I be so foolish as to think I longed for this moment! Rewind! Go back! I don’t want this yet! But just as the blade continues to plunge deeper the plane finally lifts from the sky. I look out the window once more to watch the world tilt in the most unnatural perspective. The inertia feels as if gravity is grabbing me, trying to pull me back down.

I already knew the moment wouldn’t end soon, and the change of air pressure would give me a dull headache as we rose higher and higher. It wasn’t going to be over soon. The pilot wasn’t helping much, either, constantly shifting direction to find his route. Each turn seemed as if God struck at the plane, mocking us for our hubris as he so easily swatted us down like slow moving flies.

“Stop banking you bastard!” I longed to bellow, yet I knew there was no point. After all, the pilot was merely doing his job. Though I couldn’t help but imagine him turning to his co-pilot and saying “hey, check this out” and with a shit eating grin tilting the plane to the left, everyone in the passenger cabin shifting with the sudden shift of inertia and gravity, then righting the plane and laughing his ass off. Fuck that pilot, man.

My eyes continue to stare out as the land disappears and we begin to pass clouds. CLOUDS! I begin to look at them from above! That’s not how it is supposed to be! Man was never intended to see the heavens from this angle. Yet I cannot pull my eyes away, as if hypnotized by my own bowels spilling with each cut of the pendulum. Oh, look, a cumulus cloud!

Finally the plane becomes level. Inertia lets loose a bit and the grip gravity has on me loosens. The light commanding me not to use electronics turns off and I am told it is safe to use such devices. I calm myself, regain my breath, and pull my Nintendo DS out so that Knights in the Nightmare can take my mind from my troubles.

Which it certainly does. That game is a magnificent time killing device. By time I’ve completed a battle, collecting items, experience and defeating my foes the plane is ten minutes from landing in St. Louis. I smile and shut the system off, going back to gazing out the window…and remembering just how high up in the sky I am.

“Do you know why they put oxygen masks on planes?” asks the voice of Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden. “So that you can breath” Edward Norton responds. “Because oxygen gets you high” Pitt counterpoints.

Damn you Fight Club. This is like the tenth time of thought of this quote since I tried falling asleep last night.

Also on my mind was that the trip would be worth the money, time and inconvenience to get down to Illinois. Yes, even though the plane was landing in St. Louis, Missourah, my actual destination was Springfield, Illinois. A friend of mine from College was getting married and I wanted to make sure I could see him. After all, he’s one of the reasons I am the Christian that I am today, and I didn’t realize it until that Saturday but he continues to be a model I seek to imitate in faith and conviction. To miss his wedding would be like missing the birth of my own yet-to-be-born child (by my yet-to-be discovered wife).

The last time I had been to a wedding I was still a child. I don’t recall quite how young, just that I was still in elementary school. I was the ring bearer, though I don’t even recall walking down the aisle. I don’t even remember what I did. All I remember was one of the groomsmen fainting repeatedly, likely my now-Uncle’s brother. It was my Aunt’s wedding, and I was too young to really comprehend the gravity of the situation. I didn’t even get to see her much for she was away at College for much of my childhood. It wasn’t until after this wedding that I began to see her more often.

So this was my first wedding since then, and the first time a friend of mine was getting hitched. Often times people feel as if they are getting old or start to feel lonely if they don’t have a significant other of their own, but I was merely worried about whether my friend was uniting with the right person or not. I met this woman during New Years, but otherwise I’ve been away from their relationship. I had no idea if these two were right for each other.

Not until the wedding, that is. It was a pretty Church, but it was also rather cliché with the stained-glass windows and high raised roof above the head. Wooden pews and candles along the aisle. It was your traditional old-fashioned Church, just a little less old looking and with a brighter, happier coat of paint than usual.

What made it gorgeous was the sight of two of my best College friends standing at the head of the Church. My friend Eric stood, doing his best to look regal as he awaited his bride, and my friend Jeff, the Best Man, who was unable to contain his own smile. I knew he thought the same thing that I did. This is what Eric had waited for. This is why he was so picky for a woman. He didn’t want to date, he didn’t want to just find a girl for fun or for kicks. He was always scouting for his potential wife. That he was dating this girl in the first place was spectacle enough, but for him to actually propose? She must have been special.

Then she stepped in. I don’t think heart-warming is the right term as it doesn’t really describe the emotion you gain observing such an event in motion. Electricity begins to dark throughout your veins with the blood, energizing every limb and extremity throughout your body. Your muscles mechanically fix themselves into a smile against your will, and you want nothing more than to applaud, holler or embrace someone in hopes that you can somehow spread this energy out into the universe.

Yet what I felt only paled in comparison to what Heather, the bride, must have been feeling as she stepped forward. I’ve seen photos and videos of women on their wedding day, smiling as if they finally have their day. It’s their cherished day and it’s finally happening! Yet Heather’s face glowed differently. She never stopped grinning, yet her eyes would bashfully gaze towards her feet. She’d look back up toward Eric, who somehow continued to stand their regally without cracking a smile, and then avert her gaze back downward. Yet she never failed to smile.

D’aww…

Excitement just does not capture the body language. The only way I could describe the happiness this day brought her would be if I somehow got within her mind and body and experienced it for myself. I cannot, so my futile descriptions are all you get. I just knew, however, seeing her face and behavior, that this was the woman for my friend, and Eric was the man for her. I wanted to do nothing more than stand up and shout “HELL YEAH!” for them. As I glanced back toward Jeff, the Best Man, I could only imagine he felt a similar reaction. He’d likely have a better choice of language, though.

The money, the flight, having to wake up so early and endure the Illinois heat in a suit, it was all forgotten in the joys and recreation of the reception celebration. Any doubts I had were flushed away as drain-clogging scum in a Draino commercial. I was happy to have been a part of this. It was still hard to think of my friend as being married, but all I could think was how great it would be to visit the two in the future. To one day invite them to my own wedding. To have our kids play together.

If I felt any form of melancholy it was merely that I didn’t live closer.

It has been hard to get back to writing about video games this past month. The weekend of July 4th I was uprooted from my not-so-social life and introduced to so many friendly faces and personalities I had never known before. This weekend I got to experience a friend of mine step forward into the biggest adventure he’d ever share. I got to step on a plane for the first time in my life. I shared thoughts and ideas with so many.

Sometimes the worlds inside of my Xbox 360 don’t seem worth discussing when inside all I can feel is the desire to talk about what I’ve experienced in real life. Yet this will subside now that I’ve managed to share this with you. The plane was frightening, and I won’t be volunteering to have such a journey again any time soon. However, it was all worth so that I might see my friend accomplish one of the greatest goals of his life. Hell, the look on Heather’s face was worth it enough.

Sometimes it’s worth putting down the controller so that one might take a real and frightful journey of your own.

Speaking of Journey, I cannot resist singing along when Don’t Stop Believing starts playing.

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