Stargazing
By Laura J. Snyder
The Sun has sunk beneath the horizon. Lights of the surrounding houses go out one by one, until finally the last one is extinguished. It is a little cold for a late spring night, but that is okay because it is just you and the sky now. As your eyes adjust to the dark sky pinpricks of light grow brighter as each star makes its appearance.
Looking up to the sky it becomes a dazzling dance of small twinkling light. So many stars smeared across the black void of space.
You lay on the cool grass, arm behind your head, propping it slightly. Taking in one slow breath, your body is letting go of the day.
The sky it littered with stars, more stars than you were aware were there. Its vast and it hits you as you let your eyes get lost in nothing but those stars just how small we all are. The universe, a place so big it is almost unfathomable, and here we are, floating around on this small rock cruising at thousands of miles per hour. Thinking about it, you then find yourself in awe that you are still on the ground. Spinning through space, going so fast and flying through the void and yet you go about your day as if it is not a miracle that you exist.
These are deep thoughts for a Thursday night, but you regret nothing. Why have you not taken this time to appreciate the universe sooner? Life is a big crazy chaotic mess, so when does one have the time to lay in the grass and stare at the stars and ponder the wonders of the universe? Well, not you. But after a night of tossing and turning and an inability to relax, you took a gamble and decided to go lay in the grass, stare at the stars, and try to lull yourself into a state of relaxation.
Perhaps it may be having the opposite effect. Your muscles are relaxed, your body less tense, yet here you are, laying on your front lawn contemplating how you are laying on the grass.
Stars do not seem to mind you being there. They will still be there after you go back into the warmth of the home you work so hard for, watching from millions upon millions of miles away. Some of them long dead, winking at you from the past.
Lost in a sea of the last true unknown, you feel like your soul is pulling upward, yet you remain firmly on the ground. More twinkling lights are filling the sky, dazzling. It is beautiful. That is all there is to say. Beautiful and magical. All the thought of how small you are drifts from your thoughts just as soon as they arrive and now it is just you and the stars and all their sparkling glory.