Star light, star bright...

I stood this evening simply gazing into the sky admiring the pinks, blues, golds and oranges of the sunset. The sunsets lately have seemed more beautiful than ever before though I'm sure it's just my current perception. I find that I do this a lot lately since the sun is usually setting as I lock up after work. Sometimes, I'll remember that I have a camera with me and will shoot a photo or two for later enjoyment. The landscape outside my workplace is not exactly conducive to beautiful sunset photos since there's an interstate which runs just behind it in the direction of the setting sun. Although I've daydreamed that interstate was a barrier hiding my view of the beach and ocean just on the other side, the dream is difficult to maintain thanks to the eyesores populating the place. There are areas within the U.S. which preserve the beauty of the natural landscape by strictly restricting what may be placed alongside the roadways but, apparently, my area isn't one of them.

I went outside tonight after something I'd left in the car and once again found myself pausing and admiring the night sky. Unlike so often lately, the sky was perfectly clear and I could see stars both near and far. Though I'm not familiar with the constellations and their placement, I can always find the "Dippers". I don't think I know anyone who hasn't, at one time or another, wished upon a star...the first of the evening, a shooting one, or all at once in hopes that maybe, just maybe, there might be some iota of truth in the fantasy.

I can remember wishing for my mother's return as a child, wishing to be pretty as a teen, and wishing for someone special as an adult. That my mother did return years later, that I was granted looks which some found favorable, and that someone special did come into my life, does that mean there was magic at work? Who am I to discount the possibility?

Life is a gamble. Control is an illusion. We have no control over all the elements involved in any given moment. We'll never hope to fathom all the mysteries in this universe. We can't begin to comprehend even our own miniscule part in this grand universe so how can we discount the presence of angels, the shadow of spirits, the existence of a parallel universe, or the power of fairy rings?

We hope when things seem their darkest. We wish when things seem out of our reach. We dream to enhance our reality. We find faith so we have something to hold on to. We believe so that there's meaning to it all. We participate in life and we go on. It is what we do and we do it well.