Overhead, the sky was clear. I looked towards the east south east. The edge of the big dipper pointed up north towards Polaris, and southerly towards Leo and New Haven. Towards the north, some neighbors had outdoor lights on and New Haven has plenty of city lights. Yet from where I was standing, it was fairly dark. Picking out stars, I figured I could see anything magnitude 5.0 or greater. It wouldn’t be the best viewing for shooting stars, but if there was much to see, I’d have some sort of a chance.

I had stumbled out of bed at 3 AM, half an hour after moonset. Without turning on lights, I found my way outside, taking the dog with me. He seemed excited to be going out at this strange hour, but some of the noises in the woods spooked him. I had walked around trying to find the best nearby vantage point. My eyes were well accustomed to the dark, but I didn’t see any shooting stars.

I came back inside. Was anyone else having better luck? I checked on Twitter, but only saw constant retweets of a link to an article in National Geographic. Half an hour later, I headed outside again. Again, I saw no shooting starts. Some of the articles suggested that 5 AM would be a better viewing time. I went back to my computer and tried to get a little work done. Around 4:20 I went back outside one more time. After a few minutes, I saw a shooting star. It was fairly bright, heading due south out of Leo. I waited a few minutes longer but didn’t see any more shooting stars, so I figured I’d let the rest of the family sleep.

How strange it seemed, to be standing on this large rock hurtling through space, looking up to see if I could catch glimpses of pieces of dust burning up as they entered our atmosphere. Yet those little pieces of dust can be truly beautiful, just like the gigantic balls of gas glowing as the atoms fused together.

And the waiting. If you want to see shooting stars, you need to wait. You need to find the right time and the right place to wait, but you still need to wait. It seemed like so much of life. Trying to be at the right place at the right time to wait for something important to come along. Sometimes it comes. Sometimes it doesn’t. Often what does come is different than the expectations.

So, I wished on the one shooting star that I did see and then headed off to bed. I will wait. I will wait for my wish on the shooting star and I will wait for the Geminids in December for another chance to stand outside in the cold waiting to catch a glimpse of burning dust.