I took this picture out of an airplane window a few weeks ago and I have gone back and looked at it several times whenever I am feeling overwhelmed with life, family and work.
My flight that morning was at about 10:30am on a Thursday. As the airport is about 50 minutes (with no traffic) from my house and I am psychotic about arriving at the airport 2 hours before my flight (after missing flights because of security lines), that meant that my trip to the airport was completely during rush hour traffic.
And it was raining. It was just a miserable morning - it was that rain that is not a downpour, but just enough to screw up traffic and your hair (no matter how much you flat-ironed it and how much Moraccan Oil that you used).
My 50-minute trip ended up taking 2 hours and by the time I arrived at the airport, I was completely stressed, annoyed and a ball of nerves. Through a lucky chain of events (mainly, getting upgraded to First Class when I went to check my bag, which meant that I got to sail through the First Class security line), I arrived at my gate with plenty of time before boarding and sat down to run through my mind all the things that had annoyed me that morning.
Soon, we were in the air and above the clouds. I looked out my window and it hit me: Beneath those clouds it was a miserable day - full of rain, stress and traffic.
But once you get your head out of and above the clouds, it is really very beautiful!
It's funny how the smallest thing can be your "A-Ha!" moment.
(and yes - I know that one of you are going to point out that the sun is not shining at night - but it's always daylight SOMEWHERE!)