Why “Looking Up”?

I have been struggling with this post for weeks. I would consider one approach, then set it aside to ponder another, only to discard that and head for a new one, then circle back and merge parts of the first couple and toss those for something completely different.

Part of the challenge is that naming the page “Looking Up” was almost impulsive, triggered by a couple of events after I started getting more interested in aviation and curious about what was flying over my head. More on that shortly.

But as I considered whether to post my thoughts on social media, or maybe rekindle this blog page, I thought about times during my nearly seven decades of experience what “looking up” means to me. And what I wanted it to mean to others who might read my posts.

A blog is born… then dies

Regarding this simple blog page, it initially was born quickly and died just as quickly in the span of 2 weeks.

I published my first article early January 2026. January 4^th.  It originally was a spin-off of something I had been doing on my business social media pages I dubbed “Motivation Monday.”  I’d take a motivational quote, sometimes build a little story around it; sometimes only an accompanying image.

“Playing the Same Piece” was the first post, born of my first time experiencing a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert a few weeks earlier, and of several TSO related posts and reels starting to hit my Facebook feed. The musicians described in my post were amazing to watch and listen to. It wasn’t a good fit for the business pages, but I still wanted to share the experience. So, this blog was the solution.

But after my second post, “Door Closed. Door Open”, I ran head-first into a stark realization. For almost two years, I had been relying more often on artificial intelligence, AI, to help me create content. Right about the time the second post dropped, I started seeing a lot of heat on social media about the “tell-tale” signs of AI-generated content. Em dashes. En dashes. Multiple short sentences. I took another look at “Playing the Same Piece” and earlier content. The “tells” were there, and even though the experience, the story, and the concept were all mine, the words and phrasing read like every other AI article.

“Door Closed” wasn’t quite that conflicted, likely because it was even more personal. For “Playing,” I didn’t play any of the instruments. I didn’t engineer the multiple video and soundtracks to create something that showcased multiple talented musicians. But with “Door Closed,” I walked Dorothea Dix Park. I strolled to the field with the doors. I took the photographs. I made the internal connection of open doors and closed doors with my life experiences. And most specifically, I drafted that post with one specific person in mind: a friend and colleague who doubts her own ability to walk through the doors open to her and succeed with her talent and ability. I wanted to share with her, and the world, that just because something happens, just because one door closes, opportunities still surround us if we’re willing to open the next door and walk through.

But… the damage was done. The bubble had burst, AI ghost writing reality poured in, and I stopped. Cold.

Renewal

It took nearly seven months for a new concept to gel in my brain. I’ve always loved writing, have always loved learning, and have always enjoyed photography. That’s a pretty good blend.

When an ad hit my social media feed promoting an open house for a local flying club, I dropped the date on my calendar and thought about heading there just to see what it was all about. I was curious about the club, about planes, and started wondering whether I was too old to consider getting my pilot’s license. And I thought if nothing else, it would be a great opportunity to dust off my Canon DSLR and play.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it to the open house that day. But when we had to run some errands that weekend, I sweet-talked Laura into heading up to the Raleigh Durham Airport Observation Deck so I could take some pictures. That turned into a catalyst that has started to marry a hobby with a new fascination.

I still use AI in business and personal life, and after this first outing, I used AI to help critique the photos I took. It had been years since I hauled a camera, offloaded the images, and then actually did anything with them. I ended up posting a few of the cropped shots and a short blurb on Facebook.

A week and a half later, our son was flying in from California after taking a red eye to DFW and connecting to Raleigh. By this time, I had started playing with Flightradar24, an aviation tracking and identification app, and I mentioned to Laura if we had time, I’d like to get to the Observation Deck to try to grab some shots of his flight coming into RDU. With some quick research I learned that when the wind direction shifts in the morning, the flights often come in from the northeast on 23R, which meant I’d possibly be able to get a photo of the landing. Those photos and another short note made it to my Facebook page as well.

And I started thinking about creating something more durable than a series of quick uploads to Facebook that are totally subject to the whims of the algorithm where just like Thanos’s “snap” in the Avengers movie, at any time your photos, collections, links, friends, and entire account can be locked, lost, or deleted with no recourse and no backup.

So, this gives you some of the “why” of this missive and the rekindled blog. But of course, we don’t yet have the “why” of the new moniker.

Looking Up

One night after these two photo outings, I was outside with our Golden Retriever for the last break of the night. It was 2:30am, with a full moon just after the lunar eclipse. I looked up at the moon and noticed four jet contrails skirting past it. At 2:30am. I had to know – so I pulled up Flightradar24 to find out what it was. And that was the final set of the hook. I didn’t have the Canon, so I used the best camera I had with me – my Galaxy S23+ smartphone. And married the contrails by the moon with the FR24 screenshot of an Atlas Air 4-engine 747 freighter flying over my house on its way to Dover Air Force Base at 2:30am.

The next morning as I was opening window blinds and getting ready to start the day, I heard the distinctive “whump-whump” sound of a helicopter passing over the house. I stepped outside to look up and get a glimpse of what was overhead, but the cloud layer was too low. Still needing to satisfy my curiosity, I pulled up Flightradar24 to find that a military Chinook helicopter was flying past our neighborhood.

Looking up across the years

All my life I’ve been looking up. And as I opened today’s ramble with, over those years, “looking up” has meant many things.

When I didn’t know something, Dad would say, “Look it up.” I still use resources and tools, most of them online now instead of in a bookcase, to look things up.

When I go places or walk our dog, I’m always looking up. If you spend your entire life with your nose buried in your phone screen, you’ll miss so much the world has to offer. I’m always amazed at how many people walking down the sidewalk, in the mall, in grocery stores, in life, have their eyes glued to that tiny little brain-sucking device in their hands, ignoring people and the world around them.

I have eclectic interests and activities, almost all of them involve looking up in one way or another, physically, mentally, spiritually, or metaphorically.

God and Christianity. Astronomy. Aviation now. Research and learning new things. Music. Photography. Family. Friends. Open doors.

Watching with open eyes, an open mind, and an open heart.

Looking up describes a lot about me. Looking up gives you a chance to see the beauty and creation around you. Looking up teaches you, fills your soul, reflects to the world who you are.

I won’t be taking “Playing the Same Piece” down. It’s the anchor that almost sank my desire to create. But it’s still my story of something I experienced by looking up. And now it’s the hill that I will build my own writing on top of.

Keep Looking Up.