A Sunday story:
“Why don’t you blog about THAT?”
Patrick likes to ask me that question every day. Every. single. day. So far, I’ve curated out of your seeing eyes such topics as “why ground squirrels run across the street right in front of cars,” and “why our neighbor is such a supreme a-hole.” You can thank me later.
So it shouldn’t surprise me when I lurched awake, claustrophobic from a dream I couldn’t shake. I was stuck inside a blogger’s brain and everything was coming out as snappy blog posts. I could only speak in punchy headlines and concise bullet points. It was making me sick to my stomach.
In the midst of my panic, I got to thank my lucky stars. Literally. We were sleeping outside under the stars to watch the Perseid Meteor shower and I always miss it because I have a tendency to fall asleep right away and sleep through the night.
I have a weird default mechanism in my head I’ve been battling that causes me to experience anxiety the minute I wake up. That’s why I wrote about the Downy Commercial Tactic I use in the morning. My psychologist told me to make a mental list before I fall asleep each night of all the things that are going well in order to retrain the brain and stop that nonsense.
This night, I didn’t need it, because I lay there watching the stars and immediately watched three shooting stars; and I smiled. It was a silent night other than the breathing of a Bernese Mountain dog (about my size) sleeping to one side, upside down, with his head towards my feet, a Black Lab sleeping at my feet, and a husband fast asleep on the other side. It was quiet.
I thanked my lucky stars.
PS. some blog posts don’t have a lesson or a moral; just a random story.
Photo credit: Donovan Shorty, Flickr, creative commons
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You are so lucky you can see the stars where you are. We have so much light pollution, I’m lucky if I can see the Big Dipper.
I know what you mean, Geoff!!! Having lived in Seattle for 10 years, I used to go to great lengths to go try and see the Northern Lights. Didn’t see it til I moved out here. But remember, you have lots of restaurant choices. 🙂
your random stories are anything but random…they’re b-e-a-utiful! good stuff!
THANK YOU. I had fun writing it so I said, what the hell. 🙂
I enjoy a random story, but I’d really like to read the one about the squirrels.
Ha! Rather than the a-hole neighbor???? I guess we all have the neighbor stories….
The moon and stars are always crystal clear here. I can lay out on my patio or in my sunroom and watch shooting stars, try to figure out the constellations and watch the lazy path of satellites. The nights are pure pitch black here, and we’re blessed with a show every night. Cheers! Kaarina
That sounds perfect, Kaarina!!! Do you ever see the northern lights? I can never seem to stay up. . .
I do 🙂
I love sleeping under the stars, don’t get to do it enough.
I imagine you have to travel far to sleep under (and see) the stars?