Seeing Stars

It’s always been a dream of mine to see a night sky filled with stars. Urban living always denied me my dream, and even now, living in a hilltop town on the outskirts of Jerusalem, city lights prevent me from seeing more than a handful of stars every night.

My husband surprised me with a two night ‘cruise to nowhere’ for my fortieth birthday, and I raced up to the deck that first night at sea, only to find a full moon lighting up the sky and eliminating any traces of stars. While the path of moonlight on the ocean blackness was breathtaking, I stood at the ship’s rail promising myself that one night I would look up and see the starry sky that has filled my dreams.

I’m going to spend the next few months chasing that dream. I’m leaving for the States in a couple of weeks, and after spending time with my family in LA, I’ll head to Arizona for a few nights where I’m planning to get out into the desert at night and catch sight of some stars. Next spring I’ll be on a week-long cruise to Mexico, and I’ll be on the lookout for marine life by day and stars by night. In between those two trips, I’m hoping to have a chance or two to travel into the desert around Jerusalem and beyond, and if I don’t succeed on those nights, I’ll seek out other star gazing opportunities.

In the meantime, I’ll have star gazing opportunities of another sort while in the States. While it’s never been an interest of mine, there’s no denying a certain thrill at seeing a familiar face walking toward you. When people hear that my son lives in Beverly Hills, they almost always ask me if I’ve bumped into any movie stars. As I smile and answer, my mind flashes to an image of the Griffith Observatory and the stars that I’m longing to see.