Orionid Meteor Shower

Last night meteors rained down over Earth for the Orionid Meteor shower. Scientists estimated that you could see up to 60 shooting stars an hour between 1 a.m. and dawn--with the shower peaking around 6 a.m.. We live in L.A. where the entire region glows from electricity and dims the stars.

Still, we decided we would try to see the meteor shower. Jonathan said skip it, and I couldn't budge Benji, but when I went to grab Theo at 5:45 he jumped right out of bed and dragged his sleeping bag with us.

We put on jackets and tiptoed through the dark into the back garden. We lay down on the cement of the terrace--he in his sleeping bag and I on the cushion from our lawn chair. We lay there and looked up at the stars. The city is so bright we could count the stars--20 out of millions visible to the naked eye. But if you looked longer, like magic, more points of light would emerge.

We lay there, smelling the trees, watching the stars, listening to neighbors' sprinklers going on. We snuggled and looked up at the city sky.

We watched for 30 minutes, but never saw a shooting star. It is just too bright in the city. I felt sad that I was not out lying under the stars on a mountaintop in a place where you can see the milky way arching over you like a river. I mourned that man has taken away one of nature's most awesome wonders. In the darkness Theo and I walked back downstairs.

"I still liked lying there in the dark and looking at the stars," he said. "It was fun."

And..I had to admit...it was. There was something magical in the quest to see the meteor shower, and a beauty in the (semi) quiet stillness of the dawn--even in the middle of the city.

We went back inside, curled up on the couch, and overslept. Fun.