Twinkle

(From December 23, 2013)

The stars were so beautiful tonight.

I was squatting at the tap outside the kitchen door, because I’m on my period so my dishes can’t be washed with anyone else’s. The sun dropped below the hills of the valley long before dinner at 7:30 so by the time I finished eating any traces of dusk’s dim light had disappeared. And it was loadshedding so there was no light flooding over from neighboring houses.

It was dark.

When I reached up to pass the soap back inside to my host sisters, doing the rest of the dishes, I caught a glimpse of the sky. It was like a silver glitter fiasco on a dark blue kindergarten carpet. I finished rinsing and came back inside, happy to put my damp hands into my gloves, hoping they would regain feeling after the freezing tap water.

Up on the roof, I went to the north corner where the light from a nearby hotel’s generator is blocked. I gazed up and marveled at the largeness of the dark and the potency of each star. I threw my head back and leaned until the houses and the hills and the world were completely out of view.

My eyes scanned the grand expanse of the sky and I thought to myself, “wow…it looks just like a planetarium.”

Something tells me that's not how it's supposed to go.


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Also, if you are interested in learning more about the time I didn't go to Sri Lanka, check out my friend Virginia's blog. I tried and didn't have the emotional stamina to relive the whole experience in writing so I'm especially grateful someone else did. Because this is a story to be told. http://virginiafrommontana.com/2013/12/16/stuck-in-a-glass-box-or-why-i-will-never-again-fly-through-the-delhi-airport/