starry night

Tonight is one of those lay on a blanket and watch the stars kind of night.

Stars are easy to take for granted when they're visible night after night. You go about your business, knowing they are there, but for whatever reason, you don't look up. You are content with that feeling of knowing they are there - twinkling, falling, doing whatever they do in their lifetimes. Life on this Earth keeps the gaze level.

Stars aren't always visible in certain parts of the world. Cities especially have so much artificial light of their own, shielding all those city dwellers from the magnificence of stars. Suddenly, you realize much time has passed without having seen those stars. Constellations forgotten. Galaxies of stars spinning around some force unknown to us all. So much happening, and tons of people don't get to see it. Do they know what they're missing?

Sometimes I revel in the fact that now I can see the stars, after years of going about the everyday, not knowing what I've subconsciously missed. I wonder if they knew I'd inevitably look upward into the sky again, as semi-conscious about me as I'd been about them. I take this moment in, this chance to stop and breathe. This chance to stop running and just be. Here with the stars.

Just here.