Stargazing via Pinterest
Day 15 – A – Z Challenge
We are Starlight; We are Golden.
“When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.”― Ralph Waldo Emerson
Modern life tends to block our ability to recognize we are mere specks in a massive, endless universe. We are busy being busy. We are running to the point of exhaustion on the treadmill of life. We forget how connected we are to birds and trees and elephants and the tang of this rich, red earth. We believe in our little bubble world, unfettered and untouched by anything outside our own experience. Even though it is obvious there’s more than meets the eye.
Even though at the atomic and subatomic level, everything is a pulsing, radiating oneness.
Instead, we shrink the vastness that represents all that we are, into a thimble-sized container, and call it life.
But we’re so much more. So. Much. More.
And We’ve Got to Find Our Way Back to the Garden.
“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”― Carl Sagan, Cosmos
I love the notion that everything’s connected. That we are made of water and iron and carbon that has always existed and will always exist. It dovetails perfectly with the Buddhist belief (energy that has been created can never be destroyed) regarding the eternity of life. Life may change form, but it never goes away.
Life and Death and Life and Death.
I am thinking of all this because it is nearing time to let my oldest cat, go. He’s skinny and arthritic and suffering with irritable bowel syndrome. He’s thirsty and hungry constantly. He purrs incessantly if you even look at him.
He’s like an old guru who’s finally eaten up all that’s real, all that’s true about this journey.
I know it is time for him to cross the river of death.
Even so, I long to hit the reset button. A part of me rails at the mere thought of letting him go.
Why does he have to leave me now? Why can’t my precious boy stay with me just a little longer?
My lovely boy, Edgar – Photo by Shavawn M. Berry, All Rights Reserved.
A Fool’s Bargain.
Of course, I know better. I know that keeping him much longer will be cruel.
He’s ready. His invisible suitcase containing all his memories of the wonderful life we shared for the past nine years, sits at the curb.
He’s just waiting for me.
I told my mom the other day that we’d talk about it as soon as the semester ends.
That’s two weeks from now.
My heart’s in my throat just thinking about it.
Soon, my beautiful boy will be visible in the night sky.
Soon, he’ll ride with Orion and start his stint as a night watchman. Soon, he’ll be watching over me.
© 2015 Shavawn M. Berry All rights reserved
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