What a beautiful night

I called John on my way home from work to find out what sounded good to him for dinner. We haven't done any major grocery shopping in a while, and there is nothing in the house. He said we'd just grab a bite to eat. When we started to leave, I asked him where we were going, thinking he'd probably say Oskar's or Niffer's. Instead, he said we'd go to Red Lobster since I had said over the weekend that I had been craving crab legs. We thought about going Friday night but we decided that wouldn't be good with all of the ballgame crowd in town, and then Saturday night we decided to grill pork chops so we wouldn't have to miss any of the football games. Anyway, my wonderful, sweet hubby took me on a "date" so I could get my craving satisfied.

We went in the Miata since it was a perfect evening to ride with the top down. On the way home, I leaned my head back and looked at all the stars. Most of the ride between here and Auburn is quite rural, so there wasn't anything to interfere with seeing them. I remember when I was younger--I couldn't have been but 4 or 5 because it was when we lived in Tuscaloosa--Daddy and I were standing outside on the porch one night. I asked him to help me count the stars and he told me that there were so many of them that it was impossible to count them all.

I told John that I really feel sorry for kids who grow up in huge cities like New York or Los Angeles because so many of them have almost no idea what a star-filled sky looks like. Even cities like Huntsville, Birmingham, Montgomery, or Mobile have so much light pollution that really seeing the stars can be difficult. As we drove through Dadeville, the number of visible stars dropped by, oh, a billion or so.

Growing up in the country gave me a real appreciation for nature. I loved sleeping at night with the windows open and hearing the night-time sounds--the crickets, the owls, the wind in the trees. I wouldn't take anything for being a country girl!