It's Full of Stars

Tomorrow, here and in America, is my 43rd birthday. My first without my father. On clear, and cold, January nights, overhead in the sky, Orion sits prominently, drifting slowly westward – Earth’s attention wanders.

On a January night 43 years ago, after I and my mom were resting, my dad stepped outside into the frigid Nebraska air, his first time as a father, and looked up. Years earlier, around the same time, he was working late and looked up to see the very same Orion, and wondered what each star was called. He walked to his college’s library (perhaps late that Winter evening, or the following day) and looked them up.

Betelgeuse, Rigel, Bellatrix, Saiph, Meissa, Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka.

These are names I heard countless times in my childhood, around my birthday, always in the order in which he learned them, ending, at least, with the final three as listed here.

Now it’s January again, which happens around this time most years, but he’s gone. Orion’s still there – once his reminder of me; evermore, my reminder of him.

Betelgeuse, Rigel, Bellatrix, Saiph, Meissa, Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka.

終