In honor of the Perseid meteor shower occurring this past weekend, I've decided to share an experience I had with this star show a couple of years ago.
It's 2 am on August 12th and my alarm goes off. I shake my sister awake and we hear my dad shuffling around. It's time! We bundle up in our warmest gear, preparing for the cool, mountain air awaiting us. The door to our little cedar cabin opens and I breathe in that crisp, unpolluted air that can only be found high in the Sierras. My lungs fill up and a smile crosses my lips. No time to wait! We jump into the car and climb the narrow, dirt road up to the cliff above our little Foresta neighborhood.
We arrive at the top and lay down our blankets. We whisper to each other, "Can you believe this! We're in Yosemite watching a freaking meteor shower!" We understood how lucky we were to be experiencing this spectacular event in such a picture-perfect location.
I look up at the pitch-black space above. The stars are shining and a sparkle shoots across the sky. I hit my sisters arm and we lock eyes. Both of us are gleaming with anticipation. We've sat upon our roof in New York for years watching shooting stars go by, but this moment was different. Our eyes float back up and another goes by, and another and another! They start firing, swimming through the sea of darkness until they reach the inner cliffs of granite. We sat beneath the stars until the breaks in between the streamers became longer and longer. The wind started to pick up and my ears began to numb. It was time to return back to our mountain den to rest our heads and prepare for new adventures ahead.
