I Like to Lie Outside and Watch the Stars
As a child and well into my teens, one of my fondest memories is just looking up at the stars. The neighborhood I grew up in didn’t have as many streetlights as it does today. So when the sun went down, the night quickly took over. I would always go out right as the sun was starting to hit the horizon. I would set-up one of my father’s famed wooden chairs in the front yard instead of just lying on the evening dew grass. And seeing how the nights had a little bit of a chill back then, I would bring out an old railroad lantern with a red-glass globe to help keep me warm but not to disturb my night vision.
I would spend hours just sitting in that wooden chair with my head naturally tilt back from its angle and just gaze into the heavens; hoping to catch a glimpse of a shooting star. And thanks to my father, who still to this day is an amateur radio operator, I always knew where and when to look for the MIR international space station when it was in orbit. And if the weather was perfect, and I mean no clouds in the sky and the wind was blowing the right way; you could barely hear the sounds of TAPs being played from the old army base the next town over.
Today, I still find myself looking to the skies if ever outside at night. Of course now-a-days I either lay down on a blanket, in a well-placed hammock, or in the bed of my truck; now with even better views thanks to living out in the country.
I would spend hours just sitting in that wooden chair with my head naturally tilt back from its angle and just gaze into the heavens; hoping to catch a glimpse of a shooting star. And thanks to my father, who still to this day is an amateur radio operator, I always knew where and when to look for the MIR international space station when it was in orbit. And if the weather was perfect, and I mean no clouds in the sky and the wind was blowing the right way; you could barely hear the sounds of TAPs being played from the old army base the next town over.
Today, I still find myself looking to the skies if ever outside at night. Of course now-a-days I either lay down on a blanket, in a well-placed hammock, or in the bed of my truck; now with even better views thanks to living out in the country.
41-45, M
