To me, there’s few places as peaceful to be as a small, out-in-the-middle-of nowhere airport. The kind of airport with no control tower, horrible phone service, and if you’re working there late at night and have to pee, you’re doing it in the grass behind the hangar while realizing you don’t have toilet paper and hoping you don’t find a tick on your rump the next morning.

These small airports have a blissful serenity to them. Far removed from the hustle and bustle of large airports, you won’t find much of the craziness that goes on there. Yes, airplanes are noisy, but it’s a peaceful kind of noisy, not impatient a-holes in cars honking at each other noisy. 

I love working in aircraft hangars. I feel the anticipation swell up in me when I look at a plane that needs some love, and I know it’s time to get to work. I crack the hangar door open to let in the sunlight, turn on some tunes or a sports game, and begin the job. It feels like being in my own little sanctuary for a few hours. All of my senses are engaged as the machine polisher glides over the paint, the steady hum of aircraft engines in the background. As the dull, oxidized paint turns shiny again, a feeling of deep satisfaction washes over me. The feeling of having done something good, contributed something positive to the world. I know the owner of the plane will be happy, and I’ll be happy because I made them happy. It’s a great feeling. 

These out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere airports remind me that life doesn’t always have to happen at full speed. That we don’t always have to feel stressed out, yanked from one errand or chore to another, with hardly time to think or decompress. We can take time to be still, to be bored, or to be content with whatever it is we’re doing at the moment. These peaceful places remind us of that sometimes forgotten lesson. 

Your peaceful place doesn’t have to be an aircraft hangar at a tiny airport. But you do need one. A place that’s just yours, where life’s problems seem a little farther away, and your soul is recharged every time you go. A place where the ideas flow, the future feels bright, and you can actually get some work done — or just relax and be bored for once.

Where’s your peaceful place? 

Safe skies til next time,

Gracie