What in the world?

May 10 2012


I woke up this morning and went to visit my friend who was recovering from a very complicated spinal surgery. This was her second surgery this year and despite having a neck brace and being confined to the house you would never known unless she mentioned it. She was dressed and smiling and eager to chat. her account of the grueling week she had had was unbelievable. She was so full of life and laughter, and ready to live life to the fullest no matter what was happening to her.




When I got back home later, I sat down at my computer and was wondering about this reaction to a circumstance in a way that was completely opposite to how I often reacted to the relatively trivial problems of my personal life. Somehow this brought me to a state of mind where I was now frantically trying to find something to add a fullness to my life. I had a wonderful family and I had a job that was personally fulfilling, despite not being anything most people wanted to do. However, today was a day off and children went to school and spouses went to work. What was my personal passion, the light that burns in my heart that makes me want to jump out of bed everyday and spend as much time with it as I could; something that would bring me joy and warm my heart no matter what was going on with life, work, or at home.




I would love to tell you that it hit me like a ton of bricks and the impact threw me off the couch I was web surfing on. I would love to tell you that some memory of wise words said to me finally clicked and pointed me to the stars. I can not tell you that because the revelation did not come in any exciting way. I simply found myself, out of nowhere, typing in the word astronomy. I was aware of what astronomy generally encompassed, but I was not prepared for the emotional and mental shot of pleasure from just very basic information. I found out what an amateur astronomy enthusiast needed to get the most out of the experience, where I could find equpiment, what to buy first and even learnt about a something called "star parties" when I was looking for the local planeteriums. My blood was boiling with excitement and all of a sudden my schedule was instantly filled up and I was so eager to find out everything there was to learn about astronomy. I was going to join the local Museum of Science and History and try out a star party and use a telescope. I went to bed that night, excited and ready to jump out of bed and use every spear minute I had that day to discover the life in the skies.








As I lay in bed waiting for my mind to get tired of racing so I could get some sleep, I thought about how lucky I was. A passion for something, even just a hobby, was something that we dont really seem to choose even though we think we do. It seems like we try a bunch of things and like finding love, it just grabs at your heart strings and you dont know why you just love that something. I had just been nabbed by my new favorite pastime, chosen.