My first time was on a flight to France when I was 14 years old. The age and setting may be shocking to many of you, but this was 1994, not the 1960's. Fourteen may not seem strange to some, but if you know me well (or even not-so-well), I'm sure you are surprised.
The flight was a high school trip to France & England after my freshman year. We were flying overnight to try and avoid jet lag, but I was too excited to sleep. It happened after my friends had drifted off, somewhere over the Atlantic. This sounds cliche, but I felt consciously changed as it was happening. Feelings of deep pleasure, excitement, and also a strange peace overwhelmed me; I never wanted it to end. But, I didn't have a name for the experience. Sure, I had an inkling, but remember, this was pre-internet. If you weren't exposed to things at home or through your friends, then you didn't know what they were. My friends weren't talking about such things at school. At least not yet.
I turned to the only person still awake whom I thought could label that experience--my chain-smoking, cute-as-a-button French teacher, Mrs. Blair. She was close to retirement age, and very grandmotherly, but a "cool" grandma, so I just went ahead and asked her. She didn't bat an eyelash as she told me who was singing the song coming through my headphones on channel 4: "Why, that's The Beatles." Now, I know the song was "In My Life," but I'll never forget hearing it for the first time.
