Clouds

Day 3 should be a picture of clouds. In my head I imagined white fluffy clouds, the kind that held shapes like frogs, or stars, or that guy with the squinty eye from WalMart. Okay, maybe not that last one. But you get my drift. I looked outside and it was a white blue haze that seemed to stretch across the entire state of Texas.

I went with plan B which involved me scrounging around my apartment looking for something with clouds on it. Bingo. "Llama Face!"

Finally, I remembered that I have something with a cloud that I'm rather fond of. Although it doesn't quite fit with the practical definition that I'm sure the host of the photography challenge was looking for, I figured it was worth a picture and a little story-telling. You know how I love my story-telling.

When Aaron and I decided that we were going to get married, looking at engagement rings became my favorite pastime. And really, when isn't it a pastime for young girls in Provo, am I right? I had gone to a few stores in the mall trying rings on and finding just what I wanted. I was so naive to the system and found a ring that was just "perfect" and informed Aaron that the $16,000 stunner was the ring for me. He about fell off his rocker. Being poor college students does not equate to a 5-digit priced ring. We kept searching and I found a ring and a band and Aaron's job was to settle on a diamond.

Fast forward to the night we got engaged, for a recap you can check out The Story of Us: Part 3. As we headed to dinner I was content to float in this romantic "We just got engaged let us stare into each other's eyes and gaze longingly into our future" cloud, and Aaron, being the extremely financially minded man that he is wanted nothing more than to explain to me what a good deal he got on my ring. He pulled out the yellow receipt. "This is how much I paid for it. Can you believe that?!" I wasn't sure what to say. "You want to know why I got such a good deal on it?" "Why?" "Because your ring is imperfect. There is a little black cloud in the middle that you can only see from the side, but looking down you can't see it at all!" He was giddy. I think he is at his happiest in life when he feels like he got a good deal on something. The words "Imperfect" and "Black cloud" bounced around in my head. Sure enough the cloud was there. In that moment, I wanted to cry.

I look back on that experience and want to laugh. Mostly because that little black cloud is now the thing that I love most about my ring. There are plenty of diamonds with perfect clarity and high letter associations, but there is no other diamond quite like mine. If I had to pick it out in a police line up, I totally could. It it unique. I love it. And as chesse-ballerific as it might sound, it's a subtle reminder that life isn't always clear and perfect and beautiful, but the imperfections make it real and lovable and unique.

Without further ado,

Day 3: Clouds

Can you spot it?