see a meteor shower

No more meteor showers until the Lyrids in April, but I’ll wait with bated breath.

Why is the sky so majestic? There’s something so cleansing, so pure, in standing outside in the middle of the night, when all the people are fast asleep, and just listening to the sounds of nature and watching the beauty of the heavens.

There doesn’t even have to be a meteor shower or any major solar activity to make it interesting. Just pick a clear night, drive far away from the lights of the city, and gaze upwards. I dare you to tell me, after trying it, that it’s not interesting.

After a few minutes, you begin to see stars that weren’t there last time you looked. Then you begin to see depth in the sky: layers and layers of stars, some so far away you almost hink you imagined them and others so close, it seems, you can reach out and touch them.

What a glorious work of an endlessly imaginative God.

My buddy and I got together on Thursday night the 14th and went out to a little spot in the country and parked in a field. We got out and leaned our heads back and looked at the sky. Before too much time passed, we saw a meteor shoot across our field of vision. It was great – we both jumped and oohed and aahed.

We chatted in quiet tones, rambled around the field, talked about outer space and alien life. Couple minutes later, another bright light zipped through the sky.

In the 20 minutes that ensued, we saw a couple more – certainly not what we had hoped for, as the sky was a little cloudy and picked up light reflected from the city 30 miles away.

But the night was perfect, with our quiet conversation and comfortable friendly feeling and the intermittent happy surprise of a meteor.

It’s a memory to cherish, and I declare it a raging success.

Blast!

It was overcast all weekend, so I didn’t see even a star, much less a meteor shower.

Guess I’ll have to wait for the Geminids in December.

On November 17th, I’m going to be curled up on a blanket wearing lots of warm clothes, watching the Leonids meteor shower.

I can’t wait.