Stars

The stars have always fascinated me.  When I was a child, we lived near an observatory, and often my parents would take us to the public programs offered there.  On of my fondest memories is sitting through a lecture about what we were to see then climbing into the big dome with it silver eyelid open to the night sky.  In my dress, patent leather shoes and cardigan sweater I climbed the black metal stairs to peer through the tiny eyepiece.  I recall the first time I saw a miniature Saturn and its rings there before me.  It was magical and spiritual all at once.

I've forgotten much of what I learned during those lectures, but still on a cold, clear winter night I love to look at the night sky.  The winter sky is my favorite, and although I can still find the dippers and Orion, I mostly just stand bundled in my coat and scarf with my head back in wonder.  In winter the stars are twice as bright and seem close enough to touch, and from our driveway in the country away from the city lights, it is as if they were strung across the jet black night just for us.  I marvel at them now as I did looking  for the first time through the telescope.  It is still spiritual and magical all at once.