divine intervention

The City of Angels has sure had some weird weather this year. There was the frosty freeze that killed off all our citrus (causing orange juice nationwide to go up in price), then the ninety degree heat wave several weeks later, and then today and hit-and-run hail storm. Which began and ended within five minutes. Bizarre.

It reminded me of this day several weeks ago, an ordinary partly cloudy March day, a typical seventy two degree Los Angeles afternoon. I got in my car to drive home from school, turned westward, and was completely bowled over by the sky. It was filled with white and yellow clouds, textured and fluffy, laying a blanket over the entire city. The sunlight and the shadows worked in a way that made the sky look like upside down foggy mountains. It was magnificent. I remember sitting at the stop sign at the end of my school block for five minutes, cursing myself for not having a camera phone.

I was so enraptured by the clouds that instead of driving north on Vermont for several miles, how I usually drive, I took Manchester west through South LA. This was so I could stare at the sky as it was lit by the setting sun. Seriously, it was amazing. I remember being on the phone with a friend and having a completely one-sided conversation that consisted of my oohs and aahs and exclamations. As the wind blew the clouds eastward, the blue sky came into view just at the tip of the horizon, where the ocean ended. I noticed this right as I passed the round, white columns of The Forum, a huge deal since I have only seen it once at night and several times from an airplane. Across the street was the Inglewood Park Cemetery, where Ella Fitzgerald is buried. I considered stopping to find her grave, (my class is studying her for Black History Month), but drove on.

After that, I realized I really needed to head home (not the best neighborhood), and so I found a northbound street that cut through. Mesmerized as I was, I actually missed a turn somewhere, and ended up in my cousin's neighborhood. My darling three-year-old cousin, whom I had not seen in several weeks. I stopped by her house and had a wonderful afternoon of tickling, dancing, and cuddling.

It felt really random and spontaneous, but I swear it was not by accident.