ned To say 'I have loved and lost',is to never have loved at all.

3/11/2010 4:46:15 AM: 
CITY OF GOLDIt was Sunday, March 9, 2008, between 4-4:30 pm; I was getting ready to go pick up my two youngest kids from their father, when I suddenly got a craving for take-out, from the local pizza place. The decision meant taking a detour in the direction opposite of where I would need to go, to get the kids; thereby, heading toward the setting sun.
My oldest son (18 at the time) was with me for the ride. As we were coming up on the one stoplight in town, I looked up and saw two very dark spring-storm clouds, fairly close to the ground, and moving quickly across the sky. At that time, the sun was completely covered by the smaller of the two, causing three or four thick rays of light to stream down from the bottom of it. I was intrigued, and decided to keep an eye on it.I quickly checked to make sure I was still driving safely, and then looked up again.
Upon first seeing the larger cloud, I had disregarded it as ‘extremely normal’, but suddenly changed my mind at second glance. By that time, the small cloud had moved just enough to expose a sliver of the sun, illuminating the larger cloud.
The transformation was awe inspiring! Much to my surprise, now visible inside the cloud was a wall, resembling that of a castle. Directly behind the wall, to the left, was a single, tall, skyscraper type structure; inside of which, were rows of smaller dark rectangles, as windows would apear.
I checked the stoplight, which had turned red upon our approach, and noticed my son had been looking up also. I was afraid to say anything about what I had seen; concerned that I might have lost touch with reality. Much to my relief, just after thinking “there is no way I just saw what I think I saw”, my son asked “Mom, did you see the castle?” 
I wanted to cry. 
I answered him, “Yes, I did”, and we both looked back up.
Now, I could see what I was looking at was much bigger than I had originally thought. Further back from the wall, creating the perception of being behind the sun, and as if on an incline, were more, ‘skyscraper’ type structures. All of which appeared to be lined in gold by the sun’s rays, while the cloud they were nestled in, appeared as though lined in silver.
I struggled to take it all in, as the brightness of the emerging sun began to overtake the side of the 'city' closest it. The whole vision, so large it was impossible to view all at one time, from our location; and then, as if a disturbance occurred within the cloud, it suddenly began to ‘wash’ away; once again, appearing to be ‘just’ a cloud.
I haven’t, and never will, look at clouds the same as I did before that day.
True story.