How to Look the Sky in the Face

Last week I had a friend for dinner, and she convinced me to do one of her favorite activities afterward: lie on the grass in the park and look at the sky. I was hesitant because I don’t like to lie down until nighttime, when the only goal is to end the day by losing consciousness. (My friend loves lying down at any time.) I also felt like I already know how that activity goes. Clouds drift prettily across the sky, sometimes looking like a face or a car, then turning into something else. Kind of neat but not worth making a special trip. She insisted though, so we went, and it was the highlight of my week. I’ve been back twice since. Now I’m an evangelist for vertical sky-looking. It should be at least as popular as going to art galleries, scuba diving, or other kinds of recreational looking. Lying on the grass and looking straight up at the sky is an entirely different activity than looking at it horizontally, along its bottom. Horizon-looking is often pleasant, especially at sunset,…