stars (10/01/08)

i like stars a lot. i get really excited when i can go outside my house and see more than 3 stars. i like that stars are the same everywhere. they're the same here, in the texas hill country, in colorado, in mexico, even in uganda. but it threw me off when i looked up at the sky in south africa and they weren't the same. different constellations. no big dipper, no ursa major, no belt. it threw me off. but then again, it throws me off when i can see more than 3 stars too. i'm so used to seeing just the few stars you can see in houston. while i was at camp in colorado this summer, i was floored the first night i was there. we walked outside after church group time and, on our way back to the cabins, i looked up and they were everywhere. it was so beautiful. like someone did one of those thrown paint paintings: white on black. they were everywhere. so, despite the cold, which i'm not used to in july, a couple of friends and i lay down in the middle of the road. we had to stop and look at them. for a few minutes people stood around us and stared down at us with that look in their eyes of "what in the world? why are are you laying in the middle of the road?" "the stars!" that's all we could say. someone pulled out their guitar and played us some soothing acoustic background music and then slowly people started fading away. just me and my 2 friends stayed. the soothing music faded as the guitar headed back to its cabin, but we stayed. rocks were poking awkwardly into our backs, but we couldn't move for the beauty. finally the adults came with their flashlights shining fake light at us and we went back to our cabin. but we will never forget that night.