Walking under Arizona skies


This morning I walked under an Arizona sky, which I do every day. And after I stopped and took a photo I got to thinking how weird my point of view is, and always has been. If you understand me, you're kinda weird, too.

Walk with me. When I travel with people, I'm often interested in what they see. Responsible people, like pilots, and drivers, watch out so that they don't crash. I like that, and have always been happy to delegate that responsibility to them. When I fly in a plane, I look at the clouds out of the window, and trust that the pilot is doing his or her job up there. It's the same whenever I'm a passenger. I've always blamed it on my "artsy" attitude, which started for me as a little kid, drawing, and then painting. It's a way of looking.

This way of looking at things comes naturally to everyone, and most people outgrow it by age 4 or 5, when they start school. At that point they learn to pay attention to what the grownups want them to see, and eventually most people completely forget that they ever saw things differently. I never outgrew it, and I've known people who never outgrew it, either. They tend to be "daydreamers", often doing poorly in school. I was lucky.

I was a daydreamer who read well. Since I hardly paid any attention in class, so I would read the book, and pass the class. To this day I don't do well with spoken instructions, preferring the written word. If you want me to learn something practical, let me read up on it, give me some time, and I can do it. And then I wander off.

This morning I was wondering how many people in my little suburban neighborhood were looking at the Arizona sky. Probably not many, and the ones who did were probably not responsible adults. The responsible adults were seeing responsible adult stuff, like traffic lights. When I cross the street I'm thankful for those responsible adults! I'm looking at the mountains.

But I know that I'm not alone. In my teens I discovered Andrew Wyeth, and John Steinbeck. And even though I did grow up to be responsible, and show up to work on time, that point of view stayed with me.

Thank you for walking with me under Arizona skies.
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