Flying Low

 Marg and Henry decided to take their 40th wedding anniversary trip to St. John's, Newfoundland. The couple wanted to see puffins pick their life mates and the pictures at the travel agent's office were unbelievable. The trip would either prove that real life no longer needed to exist thanks to things like Photoshop, or that there are places so beautiful on this planet that you couldn't not see them.

Their 23-year-old daughter, Maddie, had recently won the Jackpot in a provincial lottery, guaranteeing herself freedom from adult responsibilities, and freeing her parents from the guarantees brought on by aging. In addition to a new cottage-front home in the Muskokas, Maddie bought her parents this anniversary travel gift. Marg traveled when she was young, but Henry's hesitation to stray too far from home kept Marg close to where her heart was.

Surprised by the news of the big win, Marg often wondered at what point Maddie decided to start spending her hard-earned money to play something as foolish and unlikely to pay off as the lottery. Neither Marg nor Henry were gamblers, and Maddie seemed too young and full of promise to have given up on life so casually. While the role of luck is often fairly obvious in success, there's still a lot to be said for hard work and patience. She wondered if she failed as a mother to instill these values in her children. She also wondered if it even mattered at this point.

When she brought up these concerns to Henry, he told her that being young was different these days. It was almost a psychological condition that was debilitating in its exhilaration. That the highs were much cheaper to come by, but do not last. The chase for the next thrill around every corner ages young people in a way scientists have yet to understand.

As the plane landed and the island visuals came into focus, Henry grabbed Marg's hand and smiled. "It's a good thing we never got old enough to think to buy lottery tickets," he quipped. "We would have never made it this far."