I went to the Chicago Botanic Garden again over the weekend.

Now that I’ve paid for a year’s membership, I suppose I feel I have to get my money’s worth.  I went to a carillon bell concert there just last month, and my friend who met me there, Nina, reminded me to book early for a special Christmas event.

We took in a cooking demo, featuring a popular local chef and fresh from the garden ingredients.  Then, we spent some quality time sitting on wrought iron chairs, with our bare feet in the grass.  Under the branches of a shady tree and overlooking one of nine small lakes on the premises, It was quite an idyllic spot to hang out.

The main reason for meeting at the Garden was their kite flying exhibition, which we caught in the morning.

I probably made a simple kite for an elementary school project and probably designed kite suitable art at some creativity workshop in more recent years, but this was different.  It wasn’t about conjuring up a symbol I could associate with SOARING.

There was nothing hypothetical about this.  We’re talking REAL flight.

Real nylon kites, in various shapes and colors, were involved.  Flight was not a fairy tale goal.  Flying was the main event.

As described on the website blurb and flyer we got from the visitor center,  Professional kite flying teams, Chicago Fire and 180 Go, demonstrated kite-flying skills to music in a meadow where chairs and tents were set up.

Time was set aside between two scheduled performances where people could fly their own kites or purchase one.  They had a wonderful selection of for sale.  They even offered help with assembly.

Their temporary gift shop-in-a-tent had diamond style and delta, also inflatable, kites.  They had kites that looked like airplanes and kites that looked like butterflies.

When it was time for the audience to fly their kites, my heart was touched by all the families, kids of all ages and races, running along the perimeter of the meadow with homemade paper, or fresh from the gift shop, expertly assembled, nylon kites.

Parents helped the smaller children.  (I bet some of them thought their running days were over).

Kite flying is popular all over the world.  Rokkaku style kites originated in Japan. Many other popular styles originated in Asia, some in Africa.

I watched a young boy of about six or seven holding his kite against his right shoulder as he ran,  eventually letting go and seeing it lift off in the breeze.  I felt so fortunate to witness him smile with a great sense of accomplishment.

When I saw families in the meadow, I kept thinking of the movie, Mary Poppins and how the Banks family came together, uplifted by the thought of seeing their patched up paper diamond fly.

Let’s go fly a kite/Up to the highest height!/Let’s go fly a kite and send it soaring

Up through the atmosphere/Up where the air is clear/Oh, let’s go fly a kite!

The demonstrations by 180 Go and Chicago Fire were awesome!

One troop used mambo kites, and the other used some sort of quad-line stunt kite.  As if dancing, six kites zigged and zagged across the horizon to music that played on hearty outdoors speakers.

From light classical to Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk, I was amazed by how free each kite seemed all the while being tethered to a pilot back on earth.  As they crisscrossed each other, it was hard to believe their cords didn’t get tangled.

I know there are laws of aerodynamics which affect how kites fly and reasons why different designs work better in different conditions.

I understand that practice and repetition are required when you perform a skill to music, especially when you are part of a team or ensemble…

…But I could not have expected the combination of science, artistry, and gamesmanship displayed in a communal setting would have such a spiritual effect on me.

I witnessed how things can feel free and still be held in the embrace of something greater.

Flying a kite, or watching kites fly, is no small thing.