Diamonds

To make diamonds, you'll need water and sun, both of which are always available, but diamonds are rare nonetheless. Unless of course they're abundant.

Enter clouds.

Clouds are the keepers of the diamonds. The sun will be up there, being his regular sun-self and filling an ocean with dazzles or turning a snowy mountaintop into a glittering treasure. Then your clouds come along and put the kibosh on the whole party.

You can't buy diamonds.

Fortunately, clouds are fickle and short-minded. They never stay in one place for too long unless there's a whole bunch of them and then they positively take over--mob-mentality on a celestial level if you will. The miserable lot of them hang up there in the sky like some sort of beasty monolith, keeping the sun on one side and the water on the other. No diamonds for anyone.

Don't get too angry with them, though. They're only doing what they do best and frankly, without them we'd never get any snow or water or ice to make diamonds in the first place.

I keep talking about making diamonds. Yeah, right. As if we have any control over diamond production. We don't. Can't make one diamond to save our lives. Welcome to the human condition.

Sheesh.

Here's the thing: Sometimes you can have sunshine like all get out and as much snow (or water or ice) as you ever saw and there won't be one diamond in sight. Hence, you never want to take diamonds for granted.

(shhh ... come and let me whisper in your ear: this is the real magic. these are the things no one is telling you.)

* * *