Last Thursday night I, and many others around the Northern Hemisphere, stayed out all night to watch the annual Perseid Meteor Shower. The shower takes place every year in the middle of August, and is a stream of debris that stretches along the orbit of the ancient comet; Swift-Tuttle. The shower typically ranges between the first week of July to the middle of August. The peak date, where the meteors would be seen the best, was Thursday night to Saturday morning. The Perseid Meteor showers is one of my favorite times of the year, and as a huge space fan I look forward to it all summer. Especially, since there was going to be an outburst causing up to 200 meteors per hour!
At first, it was very boring. I was so excited to see it and couldn't stop thinking about it, so I set out earlier to watch it. The anticipation was killing me! The skies were so cloudy and I could barely see the constellations, but I did not give up. I was determined to see it. My eyes kept playing tricks on me and every bright light that I saw, kept making me think was a meteor. Towards midnight, my sisters came out with me and we sat watching the stars and the moon. My younger sister's face lit up every time a meteor or a star would shine brightly. It was so peaceful and quiet outside, that it felt like the entire world was in a deep sleep and we were the only ones awake. I believe that there is something so genuine and humbling with just being outside and admiring The Lord's creations with the people you love like staring at the moon, wishing on a star or being outside for the sake of being outside. It helps put things back into perspective and gives your heart and mind some peace. Knowing that He created such marvelous things and that he created me and you in the same way, gave me so much joy and allowed me a chance to reflect on myself.
After a while, the wind started to pick up and it started to rain so we had to go inside. It got kind of late, so I wasn't able to sit outside so I continued my watch at the window. As I was laying on the couch, I could hear the pitter patter of the rain and honestly felt so at peace. I stayed up the entire night but unfortunately, the skies were too cloudy to clearly see any part of the meteor shower. The hours slowly went by, and dawn approached so I went back outside but saw nothing. The following night I set an alarm so that I could catch even the tiniest glimpse, and promptly woke up at 5:30 a.m on Saturday morning.
I looked outside for the longest time, squinting my eyes and heard myself saying, "Come on, just one. Just show me one." Well, I finally did see one! My heart was bursting with admiration and joy, I didn't even care that I hadn't slept a wink! As the sun creeped over the horizon, bringing warmth and light to a new day, all I could honestly think about was how eye opening and incredible the experience was, despite the lack of any actual meteor watching. My weekend was made, by that tiny little meteor. Throughout those three days, I learned that there's so much beauty and magic in the smallest things, and it takes just a little bit of patience and a different perspective to see it.
