Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
I think the first time I remember really looking at the stars was when Sputnik was orbiting overhead. My dad came and woke me up and said, “Come with me…I want to show you something.” He helped me into my coat and we stepped outside into the cool, night air. I was instantly alert, fully understanding this was unusual and an adventure. I shivered with the thrill of my dad sharing something special with me. That didn’t happen very often.
I remember he held my hand and pointed into the night sky and said, “See the stars?”
“Yes, daddy.”
“I want you to watch for a special star…it’s going to move across the sky. Not fast, like a shooting star. But pretty fast.” He pointed straight up above us and said, “There! See it?!”
It took me a few seconds of searching but there it was…a moving star!!! “I see it! I see it!” I shouted. It was, come to find out, the newly launched satellite…Sputnik. The Russians had beat us into space. I was only four years old when this little round ball went around and around our world. It was up there for twenty-one days…then it was done.
I’ve been in love with the night sky ever since that night at Grandma’s farm, holding my dad’s hand in the dark. There was a reverence about it, a sense of awe at the magnitude of it all. One summer after Grandma died, I came to WV for my high school reunion. It must have been in 2012…the August before Mr. Virgo died. I was staying at the farm, even though it was a good hour’s drive after the party let out at midnight. It was a hot August night and when I stepped out of the car into the inky blackness of the night, I looked up and stopped in my tracks. The stars looked like a million diamonds thrown on a black velvet cloth. The distinct stripe of the Milky Way slashing across the sky fascinated me. I laid down on the wheelchair ramp my uncle had built two decades before and placed my hands across my belly and stared for the longest time. Shooting stars streaked across the sky at irregular intervals. Crickets and katydids sang their love songs deep into the night. An owl hooted far up the holler behind the barn. And there…there was a satellite. Then another. And soon, another. The night sky is littered with space junk and communication satellites and spies anymore.
Now I have an app on my iPhone that identifies whatever star or constellation I point it at. It’s a lot of fun, especially when you’re out camping. There are several apps but the one I use is the free version of SkyView. The sky will never again be like that night in 1957 when I first shared an adventure with my dad. ❤️
“who made the great lights— His love endures forever. the sun to govern the day, His love endures forever. the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever.” Psalm 136:7-9 NIV