Enjoying the Night Sky

My wife and I went for a walk on this final evening of August. What I enjoyed most, besides holding my bride's hand, was looking with her at the night sky. A few stars, no moons, and no aircraft were clearly visible. The animal world, discreetly busy with nocturnal activity, did not distract us from our shared, upward gaze. The evening's minimal traffic did not disrupt our thoughts or our dialogue. While I could not identify the stars we could see, I knew with confidence they were the same stars that we observed in the previous year's sky.

Fascination with astronomy does not come naturally to me. I've never owned a telescope, and I've never gone out of my way to visit an observatory. I failed my college astronomy class, tried to take it again, and got out before disaster repeated itself. I did read a book in French about astronomy that was written at the equivalent of a sixth-grade level. I very much liked the reading and subsequent looking at the sky.

Two of my three favorite astronomical experiences were with my wife. One was in rural Vermont, far from distracting city light pollution, and we saw the night sky in all its brilliance. Another time was on the Pacific Ocean off the Mexican coast. There is a darkness on the high seas that is unforgettable. Its inkiness is a throwback to a more ancient way of being. At sea, I felt connected to the ancients from just about anywhere, including the star-savvy Mexico's pre-Columbian Indian empires. Last, but not least, was our view of the night sky from our window in the Alhambra. We got the room through the intercession of a well-known flamenco dancer I knew. What a night! Our window opened out onto the romantic complex, its gardens, the nearby Moorish neighborhood, the Gypsy caves in the adjacent hillsides , the peaks where nature remained untouched, and then the star field in all its glory. At that moment, I understood why Muslim poets wrote beautiful lyrics about the night sky.

I brought that memory home to New Jersey, and cherished it tonight, as my wife and I walked hand in hand under the stars.