Smoke and Booms

Did you hear the boom, was the question on everyone's lips yesterday.  It was a sonic boom caused by the scrambling of fighter jets to pursue a private plane that had wandered off course and into restricted airspace. I watched videos of people enjoying a quiet Saturday afternoon, gardening, doing chores — when they suddenly looked up and around, ran outside if they were in and inside if they were out. 

It's been decades since I heard the sound, and I didn't recognize it at first. But when I read yesterday's newspaper (old school, I know), it all became clear.

What hasn't become clear are our skies, filled as they are now with smoke from Canadian wildfires. 

We may think we're living our own little disconnected lives, but the smoke and the booms are reminders that, in many ways, we are one.