Post a childhood memory

[FortunaMaximus]

Probably '85, central Ontario, a winter evening, I'm 8. Reminded of it now 'cause we've got the first snow of the year up here.

I was always a precocious kid, ya know. Books and numbers, was never much for toys. Did the usual things, though. biking, jumping off quarry sand dunes, playing hockey and soccer.

Anyway, it's Christmas break, I'm up home for a couple weeks with the family at the house. I miss that house. Hot tub with skylights, on an acre of flatland, a ways down to a forest.

About a foot of snow on the ground, soft thick flakes, decided to go for a walk. Decided I'd just flop on the snow, one eye was somewhat swollen, as I'd taken another puck off it earlier in the holiday break. Pretty standard stuff when you're a Canadian kid, I suppose.

I'd read 2010 the year before, and the Universe exploded for me after reading that. It got a lot bigger and a lot more awesome. Flop back on the snow, start making snow angels and sinking into the snow a bit, if you know that warm feeling you get when your winter clothing meshes with the snow and it actually warms you up...

All those stars, man. Thousands and thousands of them. Uncountable, gorgeous, mesmerizing. Thought about other civilizations out there, and realized if they looked up in their sky, they couldn't help but feel the same awe.

To this day, I have never really made an effort to learn the names of the stars. They, after all, are suns with their own names.