Star Thoughts
Just spent four days in Marathon Texas listening to music, making music, and watching stars (the celestial sort). It was possible to walk everywhere I needed to go. Although we rode on occasion for speed and convenience. The weather cooperated. Hot days were followed by cool nights. Desert weather, the sort I’ve come to love over the years from my youth in the desert around 29 Palms California to the Big Bend that I discovered late in life.
It came up in a conversation one evening that I’d like to spend some time there alone, watching the stars and writing. But being alone in a space like that scares some people, and I can see why. Almost every story I read in a book about death in Big Bend featured someone soloing. But I’m not wanting to wander off. I’d take an abode relatively close to town to sit and watch the stars and maybe drive around a bit just to see what was up. That seems safe enough.
Of course, I don’t need to drive to west Texas to be alone with my thoughts. I’m alone with them almost every day. But there’s something about seeing light that’s traveled great distances to give one a bit more perspective on their place in life, especially a place that’s empty of humans with evidence of their depredations. I’m 80 but the Ouachita Mountains around Marathon are 300 million. Now, that’s an old friend. So, it would be fun to sit and think of the stories they could tell under the stars. Which is why I might do that one day before it’s too late.