SEEING STARS

Just as school was ending in June, my son Thomas decided to spend his life savings on a telescope. So after much research on telescopes he decided on spending almost $300 on a Skyquest XT6.
Last night I talked him into bringing his telescope outside to look at the stars with me. I offered to lug the 34 pound monstrosity out to the front lawn. I was wondering about one star that was twinkling more than usual. I was hoping that it was a satellite but it wasn't moving. We looked at it and it was just your run of the mill star. Thomas told me that it was twinkling more because the sky was not that clear. No clouds, but not that crisp clear kind of sky that is best for star gazing. Since we had the telescope set up, we decided to peek around a bit. As we were watching an airplane fly by, I spotted a satellite!! I ran around like a mad woman finding our binoculars to see it a little better. He worked on viewing it with his telescope. How exciting! I grabbed a towel to lay on the ground because my neck was getting stiff. Thomas got his own towel and settled down next to me. We ended up spotting a few satellites (for your info a satellite looks like a star moving acrossed the sky and can be seen with your naked eye, try watching for them some time) and Thomas pointed out a few stars he knew and a planet or two. Thomas was happy to see some "shooting stars" that I now know are not stars at all. A meteoroid is a small piece of matter that orbits around the sun. A meteor is a meteoroid that is falling through the earths atmosphere (a "shooting star"). A meteorite is one that doesn't completely burn up in the atmosphere and reaches earth. I'd love to find one!
Thomas's new fascination has been fun for me too. I see he likes to teach me things that he knows. I've enjoyed learning some new things, but I've enjoyed the time with him even more. Someday it will be a different woman laying next to him. I wondered how long he'd continue to be willing to lay on a towel next to me gazing up at the universe. As I gaze into infinity, I let my mind imagine that these moments will also last for infinity.