evening notes #5

5

"Mary, it was nice breaking bread. I guess Amanda and Gabriel are officially hooked on tortas al pastor."

Mary, at twilight, I always look for the Big Dipper, then off of Alkaid, the star at the tip of the handle, I find the North Star. Afterward, I settle into my lawn chair, turn on my music, pour myself a drink, and light a cigar. I often wonder if, in another galaxy, in a faraway solar system, another being is stargazing and contemplating the existence of other intelligent life.

Usually, on bright, star-filled nights, I drift back to my youth in Texas, to my grandfather's farm. In the evening, after a hard day's work and after dinner, our dessert would come from the garden. Albert and I -- Shio straggling behind -- walked down row after row searching for the juiciest meloncito, cantaloupe, or honeydew. Before we ate our fruit, we'd place it in the fresh, cold water of the irrigation ditch, and then we'd recline and wait for the stars. We'd talk about extra-terrestrials, alien creatures, and space exploration. Time would fly, and soon the moon would appear, and the Texas sky, aglitter with stars, would transport us to another world.

In those moments, I'd marvel at God's creation, and my belief in an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent being was reaffirmed. And underneath the umbrella of God's hand, my imagination ran wild unable to contain the infinite power of the Creator's glory. But ultimately, my thoughts would turn to the existence of man and what lay beyond: spirit, soul, afterlife, paradise.

When I sit in my lawn chair and gaze into the star-filled night, I am face to face with God, and the universe makes me feel extraordinary and immense, not small and insignificant. Faith and His creation anchor me. The stars call me home to the infinite, to the eternal. One day, somewhere beyond the Milky Way, beyond the hundred billion galaxies that swirl in space, I will abide in my Father's mansion.

Mary, you're an inspiration, and I love you, and maybe one night, you can treat me to a cigar, and we can stargaze together. And if you're nice, I'll even show you my special star which burns in the northern sky like the Star of Bethlehem. What do you say?

Well, talk to you later. And you know I love you more.