Magic and Wonder
August 13th, 2012 | 
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One of my most treasured memories of childhood involve afternoons spent lying on the grass with my mother, both of us staring up at the sky. We would study the clouds for what seems like hours, searching out shape after shape, on a mission to be the one to find the most “things” in those big, fluffy, beautiful clouds. And when we’d run out of visions of pigs (an always popular one for each of us to spot) and ocean life, we’d try our hand at storytelling, dreaming up grand visions of a life lived among the clouds.
As I grew up, life started to become more complicated, and the clouds started to lose their magic for me. By the time my brother was born, my mom had been kind of lost to both of us. Surrounded by the storm of her addiction, I longed for the days when it had been so easy to escape into a dreamland. Sprawled out on the ground in our front yard, I tried to share this wonder with my brother. This time, though, no matter how hard I studied them, there were no pigs to be seen, no castles to be imagined. Instead, the clouds were just clouds. After that day, skies filled with big, fluffy clouds always left me feeling a little sad.
A decade later, wrapped in Hubster’s arms as we curled up on the beach at Lake Tahoe to watch the sun set, I looked up at the sky and smiled. In that moment, the wonder and magic of those nearly forgotten days came back to me.
And last night, as we ventured out for a little family walk to watch what was shaping up to be a gorgeous sunset, I found that it was the clouds instead that grabbed my attention. I looked at my little boy and found myself hoping that the wonder and magic of the stories the clouds can tell will never be lost on him.
Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky. ~Rabindranath Tagore
This blog post is part of the 2012 Summer Blog Challenge: 31 posts in 31 days. For more blogging awesomeness, check out some of my fellow bloggers:
Zita at The Dulock Diaries
April at This Mom’s Got Something To Say
Natasha at Natural Urban Mamas
Meaghan at Magz D Life
Tammy at Tam I Am
Liam at In the Now
Cliff at Peer Pressure Works
Peter at Crazy Wookie Cookies
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I loved this blog. I remember doing the same thing but usually by myself. My husband and I often point out things in the clouds when we’re traveling. There’s something magic about a blue summer sky painted with white clouds.
Blogging awesomeness from Sheila Skilllingstead: Fear: Spiders
Thank you, Sheila! Hubster says he doesn’t “have the imagination” to see shapes in the clouds, but I’m looking forward to being able to share the fun with Runt in a couple of years (hopefully).
I think this is my favourite post of the challenge so far. Amazing stuff, Aramelle.
Blogging awesomeness from Liam: Sports Radio
[...] Aramelle has looked at clouds from both sides now. [...]
Your cloud photograph is stunningly beautiful!!
Lately I’ve been noticing the clouds a lot too. Several times I’ve actually gotten my camera out and started snapping away. I even got a few keepers :D
Lovely post!!!
Blogging awesomeness from Diane | An Extraordinary Day: Serving up… Kitchen deliciousness!