to watch the whole sky

Tonight was the geminid meteor shower.  All the articles I read said it was the easiest shower to see with the naked eye and would be very active.  I found the spot in the sky just to the right of Orion's shoulder and watched intently from the sidewalk.  Nothing.  The street lights were obscuring the sky.  I walked out to a field to get away from the ambient light and again focused intently on that patch of sky just over Orion's shoulder.  Again.  Nothing.  Occasionally I would see something in my periphery but before I could shift my focus, it was gone.  This is my life most times.  I feel this is most people's life sometimes.  We start near the well lit places.  Clinging to the safety of the path that is easy.  But a large part of the world is going to be obscured from your sight.  Many people will never leave that warm glow and be content.  Others will move into the darkness with a laser focus on one patch of sky and never let their eye wander.  Again, a lot of the possibilites are going to just miss your eyeline.  Others will set out and constantly be chasing what is in the borders of their vision, never really seeing any one thing for what it truly is.  The lucky one's, the most successful one's...they will widen their gaze and take in all the heavens have to offer them.  I am learning to be one of those.  Someone who can walk through life and take it all in open to love, success, family, friends,.....life.  I am learning to be the person who doesn't miss the moon while he focused on his patch of stars. 

To Stretch On The Days You Can't Quite Reach

We all have those days where we can't quite reach.  Where your cup of coffee was a little too hot and the handle a little too slippery.  Where your gas light doesn't cover as many miles as you remember.  Where you sit down to dinner alone and force a smile while thumbing through Facebook posts of everyone with their spouses and children.  Those days are harder to reach the end.  Those days are the ones where you have to stretch out a little further.  Those days are the ones where you might have to lean just past your center of gravity and hold someone's hand for support to keep you from landing on your face.  It's hard to remember that.  It's hard to reach back and grab a hand when it seems like something you should be capable of without aid.  It is just a few centimeters.  It is just that inch.  It is just that minute.  That hour.  Just for today.  All great battles were won or lost in one day.  It is easy to forget how much one day can hold and how little we can alone.  It is easy to forget that we weren't meant to.  It is easy to forget that we don't have to.  This world, the universe, this whole existence is built of pieces leaning on other pieces.  It is the natural order.  If one of those pieces is missing, things will go on, yes, but they won't be "right".  It's that cup of coffee that tastes just a little off because it's missing that extra sugar.  It's that handle that feels a little more slick because you forgot to wipe the bacon grease off on the towel hanging from the stove as you always do but just missed without thinking.  It is the gas light that doesn't cover as many miles because one cylinder is missing it's gasket and fuel is just a little less efficient.  It is the other person, sitting alone eating dinner, forcing a smile, thumbing through Facebook posts of everyone with their spouses and children because you haven't learned to lean on one another yet to support a family.  No part of this existence performs at 100% efficiency and reaches its full potential 100% alone.  No person that has ever lived or will ever live lives their life 100% effectively without the aide of others.  No person has ever or will ever reach their full potential 100% alone.  No goal.  No plan.  No program.  Nothing stands alone, not to its greatest heights.  So remember, take that hand.  Make that call.  Send that text.  Then take that extra, and reach the other side.