a challenge

tomorrow is may 16th. (if you are reading this tomorrow--in other words, today--then please pretend the opening says "today is may 16th." if you are reading this after today, all hope is lost. forget it.) I challenge you, my loyal reader, to spend as much of the day outside as you can. maybe that means an hour. maybe that means your lunch break. maybe that means four hours. maybe that means twenty minutes. as long as you give it your best shot, that is all that matters. you will enjoy it. guaranteed. maybe it rains on you. maybe it is hot and muggy. maybe it is the most beautiful day you could ever witness. ever. just get out there an enjoy it, who cares. smell the air. fill your lungs with the good stuff. or it might really stink. it might be incredibly foul air to breathe. that's ok. laugh it off. look up. maybe you see the sky. maybe you see clouds. I can't say what you will see for certain. planes? birds? stars? the sunset? but you will definitely see something that you didn't know you would.

I know what some of you will say: "I expected to see clouds, and I saw them." sure, on that level. but I bet you didn't know what the clouds would look like. not really. or how many of them. or how they change. look at them changing. dancing around up there. look long and hard at them. or maybe you will see a person walking by. maybe it's a person you know, maybe it's not. maybe you'll never see them again. who can say? and don't forget to listen--or as a blind man once said, see with your ears. birds, cars, footsteps, conversations, whirring, buzzing. crying, laughing, cheering. silence.

you won't see anything like it again. this is it. enjoy it.

-frank