Two Days and a Wake Up

The luggage is packed, except for last minute things like my headphones, the iPod charger and cell phone charger—things we use every day and can't pack until it's time to walk out the door. Everything else is packed. The suitcases are weighed and all come in under the required limit. We're definitely not paying any penalties. It's down to two days and a wake up, but the wake up will be at our friends' home in Aurora, a suburb of Denver.

I won't be getting a complete night of sleep tonight. I didn't last night because of dreams. Tonight I won't because of the Perseid Meteor Shower. That's right, it's another nighttime sky show, and I'll be sitting on the deck between two and three in the morning, drinking my homemade cappuccino and looking heavenward. I love living in the country where you actually have enough darkness at night to see how glorious the stars can be.

Tonight they expect about 200 shooting stars an hour at the Earth's most dense movement through the filament of dust that's kicked up by the parent comet, Swift Tuttle. The only thing you need to know, though, is sit down in the dark in the middle of the night and look up. Be still and listen to the music of the stars. Watch them dance.

Maybe tomorrow I'll think of something else to put in the suitcases. I'm pretty sure I'll take a nap. I'll read the guide books again on The Netherlands and Belgium and Cologne, Germany. Life is good.

The dreams that kept me awake last night? I had two of them, both variations on the same thing: I dreamed my brother Kenny was coming here for a visit. I guess I'd better call and make sure he knows we're heading across the Atlantic for almost a month...