September 2019 - Sky

For the month of September I looked at the sky for 60 seconds a day. Every day.

Sometimes I would count in my head to 60, sometimes I would set a timer....
There was no routine, I would just have a minute to spare sometime in the day and look up.
I'm sure some people thought I was lost or strange, because I tried to not look away once the 60 seconds started.

I saw some really lovely sunsets, and it always put me in a good mood to look up at the wash of constantly changing colors that's above our heads at all times.

60 seconds was long enough to feel like I did a thing, and short enough to be doable every day.

One of my distinct memories of childhood is going out to the driveway, which was shaded by a carport with an old grapevine climbing all over it, and building a fort I made out of large leftover pieces of a tin roof, pillows from the living room, and blankets from me and my brothers' room. Once the fort was completed, I layed down on my back inside and looked up through a large hole in the new roof at the big blue sky and the clouds slowly passing by.
I remember lying there for what felt like a long time and it's probably the first time I ever noticed and truly appreciated the sky.

20 years later I'm doing the same thing, just without the homemade fort :)
But I get the exact same feeling as that first time.

Like when you're hiking and you take your really heavy backpack off your sweaty back and throw it on the trail, then magically it starts to ripple and billow up with air, and starts floating away, taking your heavy worries, cares, camping stove, sleeping bag, and extra clothes with it.

And yet somehow, everything will still be okay.