WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.960 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.960 --> 00:00:04.770 align:middle line:84% Someone asked me once, why do we do all that natural childbirth 00:00:04.770 --> 00:00:07.729 align:middle line:84% breathing during readings, all that Lamaze. 00:00:07.729 --> 00:00:08.396 align:middle line:90% [EXHALES DEEPLY] 00:00:08.396 --> 00:00:10.830 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:10.830 --> 00:00:13.395 align:middle line:84% I said, I learned that from Ron Guidry, 00:00:13.395 --> 00:00:16.935 align:middle line:84% who does that on the mound in a particularly touchy situation. 00:00:16.935 --> 00:00:19.520 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:19.520 --> 00:00:21.000 align:middle line:84% Maybe he learned it from his wife. 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:22.417 align:middle line:84% Actually, I never thought of that. 00:00:22.417 --> 00:00:25.128 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:25.128 --> 00:00:27.870 align:middle line:90% But I need breath for this. 00:00:27.870 --> 00:00:31.230 align:middle line:90% "The Race." 00:00:31.230 --> 00:00:34.410 align:middle line:84% "When I got to the airport, I rushed up to the desk. 00:00:34.410 --> 00:00:37.410 align:middle line:84% And they told me the flight was canceled. 00:00:37.410 --> 00:00:39.750 align:middle line:84% The doctors had said my father would not 00:00:39.750 --> 00:00:40.920 align:middle line:90% live through the night. 00:00:40.920 --> 00:00:43.380 align:middle line:90% And the flight was canceled. 00:00:43.380 --> 00:00:45.780 align:middle line:84% A young man with a dark blond mustache 00:00:45.780 --> 00:00:48.880 align:middle line:84% told me another airline had a non-stop leaving 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:50.230 align:middle line:90% in seven minutes. 00:00:50.230 --> 00:00:52.150 align:middle line:90% See that elevator over there? 00:00:52.150 --> 00:00:53.950 align:middle line:84% It will go down to the first floor. 00:00:53.950 --> 00:00:54.670 align:middle line:90% Make a right. 00:00:54.670 --> 00:00:55.930 align:middle line:90% You'll see a yellow bus. 00:00:55.930 --> 00:00:58.330 align:middle line:84% Get off at the second Pan Am terminal. 00:00:58.330 --> 00:00:59.650 align:middle line:90% I ran. 00:00:59.650 --> 00:01:01.600 align:middle line:84% I, who have no sense of direction, 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:05.050 align:middle line:84% raced exactly where he told me, like a fish slipping 00:01:05.050 --> 00:01:08.920 align:middle line:84% upstream deftly against the flow of the river. 00:01:08.920 --> 00:01:12.310 align:middle line:84% I jumped off that bus with my heavy bags and ran. 00:01:12.310 --> 00:01:15.010 align:middle line:84% The bags wagged me from side to side, as if 00:01:15.010 --> 00:01:18.280 align:middle line:84% to prove I was under the claims of the material. 00:01:18.280 --> 00:01:21.650 align:middle line:84% I ran up to a man with a white flower on his breast. 00:01:21.650 --> 00:01:25.630 align:middle line:84% I, who always go to the end of the line, I said, help me. 00:01:25.630 --> 00:01:26.830 align:middle line:90% He looked at my ticket. 00:01:26.830 --> 00:01:28.910 align:middle line:84% He said, make a left and then a right, 00:01:28.910 --> 00:01:31.630 align:middle line:84% go up through the stairs, and then round. 00:01:31.630 --> 00:01:34.510 align:middle line:84% I raced up, moving stairs two at a time. 00:01:34.510 --> 00:01:37.810 align:middle line:84% At the top, I saw the long hollow corridor. 00:01:37.810 --> 00:01:40.220 align:middle line:90% And then I took a deep breath. 00:01:40.220 --> 00:01:44.050 align:middle line:84% I said goodbye to my body, goodbye to comfort. 00:01:44.050 --> 00:01:46.870 align:middle line:84% I used my legs and heart as if I would gladly 00:01:46.870 --> 00:01:51.500 align:middle line:84% use them up for this to touch him again in this life. 00:01:51.500 --> 00:01:52.160 align:middle line:90% I ran. 00:01:52.160 --> 00:01:54.740 align:middle line:84% And the big heavy dark bags banged me, 00:01:54.740 --> 00:01:59.090 align:middle line:84% wheeled and swam around me like planets in wild orbits. 00:01:59.090 --> 00:02:01.600 align:middle line:84% I have seen pictures of women running down roads 00:02:01.600 --> 00:02:04.480 align:middle line:84% with their belongings tied in black scarves, grasped 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:05.620 align:middle line:90% in their fists. 00:02:05.620 --> 00:02:09.250 align:middle line:84% Running under serious gray historical skies, 00:02:09.250 --> 00:02:11.980 align:middle line:84% I blessed my long legs he gave me. 00:02:11.980 --> 00:02:15.460 align:middle line:84% My strong heart, I abandoned to its own purpose. 00:02:15.460 --> 00:02:17.020 align:middle line:90% I ran to gate 17. 00:02:17.020 --> 00:02:19.540 align:middle line:84% And they were just lifting the thick white lozenge 00:02:19.540 --> 00:02:23.200 align:middle line:84% of the door to fit it into the socket of the plane. 00:02:23.200 --> 00:02:26.770 align:middle line:84% Like the man who is not too rich, I turned to the side 00:02:26.770 --> 00:02:28.720 align:middle line:84% and slipped through the needles eye. 00:02:28.720 --> 00:02:32.170 align:middle line:84% And then I walk down the aisle toward my father. 00:02:32.170 --> 00:02:33.880 align:middle line:90% The jet was full. 00:02:33.880 --> 00:02:36.010 align:middle line:90% And people's hair was shining. 00:02:36.010 --> 00:02:37.390 align:middle line:90% They were smiling. 00:02:37.390 --> 00:02:40.210 align:middle line:84% The interior of the plane was filled with a mist 00:02:40.210 --> 00:02:42.730 align:middle line:90% of gold endorphin light. 00:02:42.730 --> 00:02:45.400 align:middle line:84% I wept as people weep when they enter heaven, 00:02:45.400 --> 00:02:47.500 align:middle line:90% in massive relief. 00:02:47.500 --> 00:02:51.430 align:middle line:84% We lifted up, gently from one tip of the continent, 00:02:51.430 --> 00:02:55.690 align:middle line:84% and did not stop until we set down lightly on the other edge. 00:02:55.690 --> 00:03:00.100 align:middle line:84% I walked into his room, and watched his chest rise slowly, 00:03:00.100 --> 00:03:01.540 align:middle line:90% and think: again. 00:03:01.540 --> 00:03:05.070 align:middle line:84% All night, I watched him breathe." 00:03:05.070 --> 00:03:10.000 align:middle line:90%