Once, when I was a child, I woke up at 8 am and looked at the sky above. It was the purest blue, without a cloud in sight. As I stood there transfixed at the sight, little did I know how meaningful this moment would become for me. But, I had a feeling, as I went on to wake up at 8 am everyday for the next year, solely in the hopes of seeing the blue sky again.

A decade and more later, as I'm exiting my teenage years, I'm scrolling through the internet bored and without aim. Suddenly, I come across an article. The title reads "9 pillars of light appear in night sky above coastal Japanese town". I scroll down to see the picture. It takes my breath away. I google the phenomenon in hopes of more pictures. I'm brought back to that moment in my childhood again.

Here is the picture:

And I realise, I've had this feeling so often and for so long when I've looked at the sky. It is such an amazing wonder. The sky comes in so many forms, and the vastness of its diversity is a large part of why it's so special to me. I doubt that if I ever even reached the age of 60, I would've seen all the different ways the sky can be. 

And what means for me, is that I can always discover new things about it as I stumble forward in life. As overwhelming as life can feel sometimes for me, It's nice knowing there's this one nice constant available.

For example, I recently visited another city than my hometown. A rare occurance for me, as my family doesn't travel much. That city happened to be one of the most polluted city in the world, and I immediately noticed it. How? I could not see the sky due to the amount of the smog in the air. Needless to say, I felt very distressed during my entire stay at that city, and it gave me a newfound gratitude for my hometown. However, looking back at it with less tired eyes, here's a thought - if the sky can be different in various places around the world, I want to experience them, regardless of whether they are worse or better than my hometown's environment.

Till last year, I used to do a thing. Whenever I would meet a new person, I would ask them, "What do you think of the sky?" People would always be caught off guard, but it would always help break down their social barriers, as it's a silly question really. However, what was more interesting for me personally, is that every single person had something different to say about the sky. A better me would have collected these answers and compiled them so I could share them now, but at the time, I only thought of enjoying those answers at that moment. 

And I really did enjoy those answers. Listening to the vast different answers only further cemented my view that I had more ways to see and experience the sky anew yet. I've seen the sky in manners I find special so many times already in my life, the idea of seeing it in many more  ways makes me giddy with joy.

If you read this far, as a thank you for humoring my passion, here's a picture I took of a double rainbow that the sky gifted me the day before my birthday :)