Through a long, slow process, I’d like to continue to unravel an understanding between myself and who all lives in the sky–wind, sun, stars, rain, clouds. . . and I’ve got a long long long way to go, and I guess I’ll never really “get there”. I’d love to hear what others have learned about this?
My Dad used to launch into long meteorological lectures about physics and science if I asked a question about the sky, and I would stop listening pretty quick, since none of it really made sense to me. So now when my son asks, I look for more interesting ways to answer. Like why did it start raining? Well, maybe the clouds got tired from carrying that heavy load of water around and decided to let it go. That sort of thing.
But maybe we all need those kinds of answers? Stories? So I talked with my Dad this morning, and of course the weather came up. So he launches in about highs and lows and cumulus clouds and the barometer and whatnot, but this time I kept asking him to back up and explain more simply to me. Like without a barometer or looking at the map on tv to see what’s happening 2 states away, how would I know about the pressure in the air? What could I feel or see or observe with just my body? It turned into a pretty interesting conversation and now I feel I finally get some of what he’s spent probably hundreds of hours explaining to my turned-off ears throughout my childhood.
So far, my firsthand observations of the local weather pretty much only consist of observing and remembering different kinds of conditions. Like how does the air feel, smell, which way does it blow, does it move all the trees or only some, can I see moon and stars (and comets!) tonight or not? someday I hope all this will organize itself inside me into recognition of patterns, b/c if I start thinking about it with my mind I suddenly lose all interest.
