I once saw a shooting star over Bluestone lake.
I looked up, chin to the sky, saw the sky twinkle, wanted to know why.
I remember the first time I looked through a telescope with wondrous eyes. Around me, the sounds of tree leaves brushing against one another and crickets finding their way home. My view, outlined by the tips of shadowed mountains.
Some days, I close my eyes and there I am again, wondering what is beyond West Virginia and who I could be, if dreams come true, and if what I seek is seeking me.
Twenty years later and I still wonder.
On this night, I’m headed to Beauty Mountain to watch my first meteor shower with friends. I look up and I’m instantly emotional. The night sky is so vast, so humbling.
We hiked briefly, our paths illuminated by the flashes of our phones. Then there we were. Just cliff, mountains and sky. The darkness was heavy at first but I soon settled into it.
All I saw was night sky.
At 900ft up, the sense of infinity was too potent. I had to make a wish. And just as I became certain, the brightest meteor skated across the sky.
More time passes and I still wonder.
I sometimes travel back to the point of my first official stargaze. “It’s so dark out here,” I whisper to myself, looking up to the same sky that gave me magic.
That same twinkle in the sky is now in my eyes.
Leuphorique 