Catch Jim’s podcast: https://youtu.be/A_BSHsIs4-M
*.*.*.
or read his transcript below…
*.*.*.
Life, Actually…
*.*.*.
THE INVISIBLE SKY
*.*.*.
Lying on my back in a rickety pinchy folding deck chair, I can observe the nighttime sky and the twinkling heavens.
*.*.*.
There is nothing like this experience. I am face up gazing into the void and imagining what it would be like to stare skyward from atop a rotating planet mere light years from here. What it would be like to gaze at somebody like me from afar. Gazers gazing at one another.
*.*.*.
Back here in the 1950s I wonder whether in the future the skies will remain so clear, so unobstructed. I imagine encroaching industry and indiscreet lights slowly occluding this cosmic view.
*.*.*.
Many decades from now I will be writing about this wonderful experience, hoping that you and I can compare notes about stargazing. Hoping that someone else besides me actually notices what’s going on Up There.
*.*.*.
By the 1990s I again have the privilege of looking up at the darkened skies and seeing a long-tailed comet hovering in clear view. The comet remains there night after night. Each day I ask most people I meet whether they are awed by this floating diamond. Each person admits to forgetting to look up. Each promises to catch a glimpse of this imposing phenomenon.
*.*.*.
Next day after next day each person snaps fingers and confesses to once again missing the opportunity.
*.*.*.
Am I the only one making note of this remarkable visitor to our solar realms?
*.*.*.
I want to share and compare, but a million-mile comet does not seem to inspire the people I talk with.
*.*.*.
Back again to the 1950s I am recalling: I note and absorb this glorious moment, just me and the firmament, and hope against hope that I will never grow so old, so distracted, so pummeled by life, that I will forget a special time and place when I realized the skies and the skies realized me
*.*.*.
Jim Reed © 2021 A.D.
*.*.*.
*.*.*.
Weekly Podcast: REDCLAYDIARY