Shine Bright like a Star @Joshua Tree

“When I reached her, she was a star, pulling me into her orbit”

 My stargazing experience starts in Joshua Tree National Park. There are no clouds and I can see hundreds of stars. I imagine that every star in the sky represents a person in my life, past, present and future. Some stars represent memories, others represent what is currently happening in my life, and others represent possibilities that have yet to come.

I lie down and look up at the millions of stars that blaze in the darkness. I feel an overwhelming connection to a star. I start drawing constellations by connecting and grouping my star to the rest. This constellation is fairly complex, or perhaps it is fairly simply, I am not sure yet. Often the constellation begins to make sense, something greater than the sum of its parts.

Can a ball of gas do all of this? My star posseses virtuous qualities; she is bright, smart, predictable, relatively constant, mysterious, passionate; she shines bright like a star. Looking at my star was like opening a familiar book. Then, I look up at the sky and find my safe place.

I recognize my star and I know she is there, yet, I cannot truly know a star, cannot see it close, touch it, taste it or feel it; thus, I turn my star into a metaphor. I start interacting with my star and bring her down. We laugh together. We cry together. We make love together.

You are beautiful, she says.

You shine bright, I say.

-Where are you going?

-Stars disappear when you look directly at them.

-The glow of illumination.

My companion and I are alone with the stars.

I saw you here a couple of hours later. Fast exposure times.

Joshua Tree National Park. 5:46pm