The Night Sky

Every other month I visit my home town in Tennessee and spend a week with my mom. We do Gurl Stuff, shopping and reading and talking ... alot. We sit on the front porch in the swing and talk to neighbors; we go to church, the one I grew up attending, and out to eat with friends. And we get things done in and around the house, taking care of errands that Mom finds more difficult at age 90. It's a sweet time together for us.

During this visit, in the early morning hours of August 12, 2012, we did something else together. Something new and unexpected. At least, for the two of us.

Every August - for a couple days - if the night is a clear one, we earthlings get to enjoy the Perseid Meteor Shower. This year the optimum viewing area included Tennessee and Kentucky.

During supper, I told Mom I planned to go out at some point after midnight to see if I could see any of the promised 100 per hour streaks across the sky.  Initially concerned that the town streetlights would hamper my view, I checked at ten o'clock and decided there would be enough dark sky to make a middle-of-the-night wake-up call worthwhile.

I woke up sans alarm clock at three a.m. and tip-toed to the back door so I wouldn't wake Mom. Imagine my surprise and thrill when she appeared in the kitchen behind me, wide-awake and prepared to go with me. A good thing ... because the locks on the kitchen doors are not quiet!

On the patio, we craned our necks and trained our eyes on the night sky and counted the "shooting stars."

"There's one! Another one over here! That one wasn't as bright ... but there's one!"

Long before I was ready to stop - but in the absence of lounge chairs my neck was killing me   - we headed back to bed.  Truly a magnificent experience. Of course, we hardly saw 50 in the half hour we watched the stars, but there were enough to compare to other more usual night skies when we have not seen even one.

A friend in KY was outside at the same time Mom and I were. How did I know? Because she and I tweeted back and forth as we both enjoyed the meteor shower ... many miles a part. It made me think about distance and connections. Distance on earth and distance in space; a connection with my mom on the patio and with a friend from back home. And technology, the way it connects us in ways unheard of just a few short years ago.

We live on an awesome planet. We live in an amazing age.

And I am thankful.