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| Ruth Ayers and Stacey Shubitz host "Slice of Life" on their website twowritingteachers.com |
When
we went to sleep earlier that night, clouds covered the sky and the gusting wind
was causing the tent to shake violently.
Thankfully, climbing the dunes had tired out my wife, my almost
three-year-old daughter, and me, so we fell asleep as darkness descended.
As
I fumbled for my glasses, a shirt and the zipper to the tent, I noticed the
wind was still. There is a certain
feeling that a clear sky evokes on one’s senses while camping. I tried to quickly but quietly unzip the
tent, my anticipation of the night sky and my own natural needs, competing in
their urgency for me to hurry. Emerging
from the rain fly, I was greeted with one of the finest bejeweled skies I’ve ever
witnessed. The moon was absent, and the
starlight was bright enough to create silhouettes of the campsite, trees, bushes,
and the sand dunes off in the distance.
It seemed that I could see each planet, star, galaxy, quasar, and
satellite above me. The Milky Way was
spilled across the shimmering blackness and while I was being reminded of how
insignificant I was, I rejoiced in remembering how significant the true
nighttime sky is to me.
