Meteor (061)

Anxiety struck me again this morning at about 3 am. It was pretty bad. I ended up waking Mike up after being unable to calm myself, and we talked for about 45 minutes before deciding to get up for the day around 4:15. We snuck onto the roof of adjoining restaurants where a wedding reception had taken place on our first night here to look at the stars. I’d left my phone in the room so I could not look up which planet we were staring at. I knew that the major visible constellation was a horse but forgot that it was Sagittarius. Also, I’d remembered that a meteor shower was coming up, but couldn’t remember when and which one. 

Every day, Mike’s dad goes out to the pool to reserve a row of six to eight chairs with towels and clips. It’s a move you hate if you’re not traveling with that person. He tells us that he goes out around 4:30 am, so we wandered outside and took laps around the sidewalks before getting a hot cocoa for each of us and a coffee for his dad. 

We sat in the to-be-reserved chairs for fifty minutes, knowing that as soon as we returned to the room, he would appear. While enjoying the hot cocoa and stars, a flashing light streaked across the sky, bright and close enough that it looked like a rescue flare going by. It was impressive, and we both witnessed it. We kept watching for more, saying hello to resort employees as they passed, but only saw the one. Sure as shit, we later found out that Mike’s dad walked out about three minutes after we returned to our room.

Upon checking the Sky Guide app on my phone, I learned that we were outside during the Lyrids meteor shower’s exact peak time. The planet was Jupiter. On Earth Day 2021, we witnessed a meteor that we would not have if not for my broken brain. We got a couple’s massage at 9 am. We played water polo, my first time, with a ton of vacationers. I ate three lobster tails for dinner and shared our wine with family, while sharing silly stories. Mike’s video question, starring our dog Jorah, also made the cut of IGN’s Podcast Unlocked on YouTube. While my wish on the star hasn’t come true yet, a lot of others have.