And to think, I was in the "talented and gifted" program in elementary school.

One of the first things I noticed when I moved to Portland was the sky. More specifically, the clouds. It's been a rare day that you can't see clouds - puffy white clouds, gray looming clouds, wispy faint strands of lingering clouds, a combination of all three and then some. They give the sky character. They're such a nice change of pace from the Bay Area perpetually blue sky (the fog doesn't count - too low to the ground).

When I was in elementary school, a classmate postulated that clouds didn't move - they stood still while the earth rotated, and because of this it just looked like they were moving. I didn't really think it was true at the time, but walking home from school that day I glanced up at the sky and the spring clouds were moving pretty fast. I mean, the earth was moving pretty fast. I got dizzy. And I remember suddenly feeling very, very small.

Of course now I know this is not true. But to this day I can look up at the clouds in the sky on a sunny day, or the stars on a clear night, and still feel very, very small.

And in a strange way I find this smallness very comforting.