(photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tkellyphoto/)
(cover photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/thelightningman/)
The Campsite Revisited
It’s been nine years since we returned to the place where Erin and I dated each other over the campfire in the Uintahs. This time we took our children.
The old campsite had changed, old trees were replaced by new. Bark beetles claimed most of them. There was less shade but more green as the mountain breeze rustled through their leaves. We took joy in sharing them the places we visited so many times in our attempt to escape the city. Showing Zoe the chipmunks that ran from tree to tree. I pointed out the Golden Tail hawks that soared overhead, hearing her cries and explaining to our children that they were looking for food to feed their young. In the distance we could hear the running of the stream as it cascaded over the rounded rocks. Even the spring that mystically appeared trickling and at 58° and changed its course ever so slightly to get to the river had changed. The mountains were still there, and the rock slides had been approached upon by the aspens.
But there was one thing that never changed. I discovered it at night after the children had gone to bed and sat alone at the campfire. It was the stars, oh the stars. They been there for a millennium and will be there for a millennium to come. As the daylights faded the stars came out minute by minute into their glory. At first seven brilliant stars followed by hundreds of others. Over the hours the stars piled through layer upon layer upon layer. I had forgotten about their majesty. At one point- my heart paused as the Milky Way appeared. It had been so long since I’d seen it. So many stars collected in a band across the sky that appear to be a cloud, stretching from one horizon to the other. So many that we could not pick out a single one, but had to admire it as a whole. I thought to myself, ‘why hasn’t been so long since I witnessed this?’ Work, responsibilities and excuses were the answer.
I know for some this will have no interest but for those who have seen it before and make a suggestion to you. Go to the stars and remember, they are waiting for you.
