Stellar Simplicity
I saw stars again after a long time. I was walking the other night from my parents’ house to our small Net cafe in sub-urban Meycauayan when I unexpectedly saw the vast dark sky dotted with many stars. The last time I stood in awe with this kind of spectacle was almost a decade back in Bataan.
My University club had an overnight at a beach in Bataan one summer years back. A group of around 50 surely would not fit in a small hut the group rented. Thus, the girls stayed there to sleep, while the boys had to sleep on the shore amidst the sand, waves, and wind. Several of the boys slept near the shrubs and grasses several meters away from the hut. It was a bad idea to sleep there. Mosquitoes feasted over them until dawn.
Org-mates Orland and Abel spread a blanket the sand a little farther than the other boys chose. I stuck with them and got a comfy bath towel to cover myself through the night [I easily get cold and cannot sleep well without a blanket]. I slept well, but Abel slept better [He woke up with sand on his lips and chin. Drooling while sleeping was evident].
There we lay face to face with the white and whiter spottedness of the dark sky. There was no light but a incandescent bulb from the hut where the girls stayed. That revealed more stars with finer glint. Such numerous stars lay scattered on the sky. They were reflections of the sand on the beach. I slept overwhelmed with awe.
That was too long ago that I was strongly struck by magnificence–back to that time of simple living. I miss that moment–that for an instance I drifted like a star on the night shore.
