The Perseid Meteor Shower made me think of love.
Shooting stars, wishes, dark, warm nights....and if you have never experienced a meteor shower when you were with a fresh love then you have missed out.
I remember being in my 20's, in Atlanta and trusting of all. We hopped into a car, the boy I was smitten with, and headed to Stone Mountain ( i believe that is where it was). The night was warm, and back then, the further you got from downtown the clearer the night sky became. It was very late and I remember him saying, " I want to show you something." I was not from Atlanta, but he was...and he was full of knowledge.
He parked the truck and said, "come on." I was afraid we were trespassing, and we probably were, but the South is known for trespassing and there were other trucks parked. We walked down a treed path, dark as dark could be. He held my hand, and with him, I was never afraid. We walked for under a 1/4 mile I would guess, quietly giggling and shushing each other. The path opened into a huge space. A space surrounded by tall trees and kudzu and carpeted with warm dry grass. The sky was black and the stars were like pinpoints of light....like glitter.... it was beautiful.
"Can we be here?"
" We are all ready here."
He pulled me to the ground and said look, look at it all, and we are so close to the city. Looking at the stars made life stop. The vastness of it all yet being so close we could hear each other breathe. Life stopped rarely in my 20's, but this night was different. The stars, the meteors, the locusts, the warmth, and the love that was forming between us...something only open, young hearts can experience.
"That is the Scorpion Tail and over there is Orion's Belt".
"Is that the 3 Sisters?" I asked as I pointed to the right.
"Yes"...
I remember never wanting to leave, never wanting to let go of his hand or his heart, and never thinking I would have to.
To this day I still think of that evening...and the many evenings he taught me beauty in a world which was moving way too fast. The passion of the warm summer nights only 2 young hearts could find.
The space from there to here is unforgiving and absolute.
Time never stops now, it just keeps moving forward, passion lost in the mundane. Yet I find the time to look up and remember and to be thankful of the hearts on our sleeves and the meteors in that warm Atlanta summer sky.
xo
m
