Feeling the Love

I love looking at the stars, but I don't really know very much about them. I had a floor-mate, Julie, in college who was an astronomy major, which mostly meant that we didn't see much of her because she spent evenings and nights in the observatory. The other exotic thing about Julie was that she was from Las Vegas. Up until I met her I hadn't ever really thought about the fact that there were families living in Las Vegas. But I digress. During one January Wintersession (a voluntary mini-semester filled with mostly non-academic workshops) she offered a star gazing workshop and a bunch of us who lived near her signed up. If I remember correctly the entire group was people from our floor. It was a lot of fun and I owe everything I know about stars to her. Because it was January the major constellations we could see were Orion, and Cassiopeia. I still think of her when I look up into the winter sky.

My nephew, D, loves learning about space and I'm guessing he knows much more about it than I do. His current plan is a career in astrophysics, though I don't think he would state it that way, yet. When it came time to pick his holiday present this year I wanted to find something that he would love and that would challenge his intellect. It took me till mid-January (D is perfectly okay with receiving gifts whenever they show up) to figure out what to get him, but what I sent was a telescope - what every budding astrophysicist needs.

Yesterday after a very long day at work, I arrived home to find this in my mailbox.

It brought a big smile to my face, and I love that the constellation he drew is Orion, one of the few I can pick out of the night sky.