Falling Stars

I saw the most beautiful meteor fall this morning on my way to work. It's Friday the 13th, which I've always said was my lucky day, and it was pure luck that I happened to look out the driver's side window just as it was falling. It was a big one, with a long tail and it lasted a long time coming deep into the atmosphere before fizzling out; I think maybe it was quite close. Although it appeared as a white streak across the black sky the meteor itself cycled through the spectrum several times as it fell; just momentary flashes of color. It was dazzling. It made my day, which was a good thing to have happen early because I had a hard one ahead of me.

I think the coolest meteor that I ever saw was when my daughter Shoshana and I stopped to look at the stars at a small lake up in Morgan Monroe State Forest, on our way home from Indianapolis once (on the Forest Road that I take home from work), when she was about nine years old. Suddenly, centered in the sky before us like it was staged, there fell a huge, bright meteor. It then broke into three pieces plus quickly consumed fragments and continued to fall for a little before blinking out. We were both looking right at it.

I remember another time on a camping trip when Shoshana was about the same age. We were looking at the stars and she said, “Wouldn't it be cool if we were out there.” The obvious answer to that was, “We are.”

The Leonid Meteor Shower is coming up and is supposed to be a good one. I'll be out the door on my way to work during one of the peak viewing times: 4:00 AM, 11/17. It'll be the dark of the moon too. If there isn't any cloud cover then I'm there; I'll budget extra time. I always try to look up when I leave the house anyway, to see the Milky Way. On really clear nights, without a moon I can begin to see how that haze is made up of millions of individual stars, like I could when I was up in the mountains; even though the neighbor across the street has installed a new security light (which at least helps me find the steps). Sometimes I get in a hurry and forget to look up. Then I'll catch a glimpse of the sky someplace, like over the big cornfield beside the Beanblossom when I turn left onto Sample Road. I have to slow down and look, wishing that I'd taken the time before I left, when I'd have been able to enjoy it more. Such Beauty.

* * *

Things haven't let up at work at all. I pulled another 14 hour day today, with five stops! I've never had five stops before. It was the heaviest load that I've ever pulled for Electrolux too, over 20,000 lbs. and except for one stop that has a dock and a clamp truck (a specialized kind of lift truck) I had to tailgate the whole thing. Most of the places usually have helpers, but they were all shorthanded today. Ah well, Friday the 13th, more exercise for me. I'm beat though. It's amazing that I'm still up and running. I usually power drive home but I just couldn't. Everybody passed me by and I was just as happy to let them. It was still a relief to pull onto the Forest Road. There was nobody left to pass me by, just the bare trees lining the way. The woods are beautiful naked too.