35. Clouds

My mom is the queen of finding faces in things. She could probably tell you a whole story from the pictures she’d find in these clouds.

Turns out, there’s a name for this phenomenon: pareidolia.

We find patterns in random data. We create narratives out of thin air.

This subjective process of meaning-making is one of the most human qualities.

Many people from my little corner of the world shudder at subjectivity, placing objectivity and rationality on an undue pedestal.

But everyone sees a different story in the clouds. And what a beautiful thing that is.

Our stories…our feelings…our meanings…are as ephemeral as the clouds that inspire them. This does not make them any less valid.

The clouds change in a moment’s notice, with the stories we interpret changing alongside them.

Such is the flow of life.