Stars

It happened again this morning and it doesn’t ever get old. Two days in a row, in the same area of the sky, I got to see shooting stars. Today’s was better. Again there was no moon, but this morning there was no clouds at all, rather than the whisps yesterday. The air had a bit of a chill so the stars were a poppin’. The meteorite was a bright one, and came to light under a familiar constellation, like someone underlined the legs of Orion the Hunter, with a truly magic marker. Its tail was thick and had a sparkle that hung on for a moment before it faded into the dark sky.

That is one of best things about getting out in the morning. I love it. Out and hitting some part of town where ground light is scarce and looking up at a part of the sky that is just teeming with stars. So many that there are no discernible constellations. No noticeable pattern.  Just thousands of points of light shining through the biggest Lite Brite paper ever. Every once in a while, like that errant onion ring in an order Burger King french-fries,  I get the unexpected surprise of a shooting star.

While everyone else is home in bed, I am there. I’m seeing this! Nobody else. I’m thinking like Melvin Udall in the movie As Good As it Gets, because he’s there and no one else is, “And the fact that I get it makes me feel good, about me.”  I suppose that feeling isn’t unique to me. I would hope that everyone has something like that. Maybe it is dogs, gardening, or dressing up like a plushie.

I just think that those meteors and I have much in common. Both of us traveling through our space, unknown to anyone but nature’s and space’s silent spectators. Out in the dark, momentum and gravity lead us on a trajectory to somewhere. I’m just glad that I’m not the one that bursts into flame and disintegrates.