Looking up at the night sky when camping is one of our favorite activities. The short distance from the driveway to the front door only affords a brief sight of the stars overhead, and most of us rarely have the chance to do this in our hectic lives. Only when we are outside and in a reflective mood do the stars appear to be so close.

We recently made the decision to build a fire in our backyard and simply enjoy the cool October night. No, we weren’t camping, but the night was too lovely to spend indoors. One hardly needed a jacket because the fire crackled and sizzled, providing exactly the proper amount of warmth with a temperature in the 50s. Overheard, the stars danced in the funnel of heat coming from the fire and shined in a clear sky. The Big Dipper and the three stars that make up Orion’s belt were clearly visible in the sky.

We didn’t want to leave the comfort of our fire ring on this lovely fall evening, even though the warm home, the TV, computer, and dinner called. Our teenage daughter had placed her cell phone within the fire while our son poked at it with a stick, allowing us to have a pleasant family-style talk. We didn’t have any specific conversations, but we did talk. You might say that the chat was more important than the topic, I suppose.

We thought back on some of the amazing midnight skies we had witnessed. Most of us are unable to see the night sky because of the light pollution that surrounds us. We can only truly enjoy it when we are outside. When we were camping by the sea, we once went on a walk at midnight and saw the Milky Way in the total darkness by the water’s edge. We once sat by the campfire and watched a meteor shower while we were spread out. Fireworks from nature, a million miles distant.

It was finally time for us to enter. It had reduced the fire to crimson coals. But at least for a short period, we had driven away all of those annoyances and were able to sit around the campfire and take in a genuine autumn sky.

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