The Sky that Smiles at Me

When people think about the weather, they picture rain, snow, lightning storms, a radiant warm sun, or the falling leaves. But when I think about weather, I picture the beautiful and immense sky. Have you ever lied down just to observe the sky? Well, I had. I’m not going to lie and say that I do it every day. Neither have I done it often. But when I’ve done it, it feels really good.

Take today for example, the weather was absolutely unpredictable. And the sky was more beautiful than it had been in the entire week. I woke up and saw the clouds scattered through a very bright blue sky. The clouds were not thick and they looked like very thin, white, individual feathers lost in a uniform light blue carpet.  If you are familiar with the types of clouds, I am talking about altocumulus clouds. Here, in a high valley in Guatemala; you can see across the sky, plenty of cloud types. This morning, there were low, middle and even high clouds in a beautiful blue sky.

The whole morning was a gift of a fantastic view. I could not keep my eyes off it. The weather was nicely warm, with soft breezes of very refreshing cold air. It reminded me of last weekend. I was in my church’s retreat. There was a fifteen minute break and I was feeling tired because I had to wake up early and did not sleep well the night before. I lied in the green grass with a friend just to contemplate the sky.

That day, the sky was clear on the very top. It seemed like the clouds were creating a circle around us, leaving the center cleared, just for us. When it comes to clouds, I love the ones reflected by the sun. It gives them such a soft appearance. It is almost like if you could hug them. I love when the clouds are not all together and you can see in the middle of this big blue sky; just a single one, reflected by the sun like a little Chinese lamp.

Well, that day was full of those clouds. It was like the sky was smiling at me. And I was smiling back. It felt nice to remember that day with today’s weather. But as I said before, the weather today was absolutely unpredictable. By twelve, the sky was grey. Not a single piece of the bright blue sky I saw in the morning. That reminded me of one occasion while I was in Orlando. The weather makes you remember things.

The day started warm, the kind of warmth that you can only feel in Orlando in October. It was humid, hot and windy at the same time. I was small at that time, probably six or seven years old. My parents dressed my brother and me in fresh clothes. We decided not to take the jackets with us because we felt the warmth of the day. We were in the middle of MGM studios and suddenly, the sky turned grey.

It was very dark and it was scary too. There was so much cold and so suddenly that my parents ran to the closest store inside the amusement park and bought us the thickest sweaters you can imagine. Something very similar happened today. The difference was that there was not a sudden drop of temperature. The sky just went from cheerful blue to quiet gray.

By four in the afternoon, rain drops started to fall. It was a very soft rain at first but then it started to pour. In the road back to my house, I saw the flooded streets and wondered how the sky shifted from such a beautiful color to that gray, which still was pretty, but was not as lovely as in the morning. I realize now that many people base their mood on the weather. If it’s raining, they feel sad, if it’s sunny, they feel happy.  Or maybe, if it is cold, they feel grumpy and when it is warm they feel cheerful. But what if the sky is clear and it is cold? The sky is always beautiful and always smiling at you.

The sky holds the image of the sun. The weather is based on the sun too. What is amazing from the sky is how it turns dark and out of nowhere there's the moon and the stars. Have you ever imagined how would it feel like if there was no daylight? How is it even possible that the sky is blue when outside this planet there is only the Universe? The sky is always beautiful. When it is sunset or sunrise, with orange, yellow and even pink tones. The sky full of breath taking colors, bright red, intense purple or light blue. Next time you feel the weather, hot or cold, look up to the sky; it might be the most beautiful thing you can see, and you can see it every day.