On Wednesday our youngest immediately noticed the orange colored sky. She frequently looked out the window to check how the color changed throughout the day. She was very curious about the sky and had a lot of questions. I, on the other hand, tried hard not to focus too much on the orange sky. It was challenging with 3 kids constantly running to the windows. But every time I looked out the window I felt a bit anxious, sad, and had a harder time staying positive.

Yesterday, on the radio, Marcus and Sandy were talking about the orange sky. I don't remember the full discussion, but I enjoyed their message. They were describing how some people found the orange sky depressing and it made them anxious. While others chose to be curious and researched why the sky was orange or took out their cameras to capture the event.

I found their conversation to be a wonderful reminder about how our reactions to these uncertain times matter so much. All of us in the area had an orange sky earlier this week. And I know it negatively affected my own mood. I wish I had been more like my kids and chose to keep a curious positive attitude. I wish I would have taken it as an opportunity to research the phenomenon with our kids. To take photos together. To draw pictures. To write about it. To pretend we were living on another planet. I wish I would have turned the dreary depressing day into a happy memory for our kids.

I'm grateful for the reminder to stay positive. And I hope I am able to use a little more creativity, curiosity and artistic ability to turn the next curveball of 2020 into a positive memory.