100 Things That Make Me Happy Besides Money

One year for Christmas, I got a telescope. I loved looking at the Moon from our back porch. I was always stunned speechless at the detail I could see: I remember noticing for the first time that the edge of the Moon wasn’t smooth, as it looks like with the naked eye. With a telescope, you can see ridges of craters sticking up all around the edge of the Moon.

I never stopped watching meteor shower, and I never lost interest in the skies. In college when I needed another science course, I chose honors astronomy, and I loved every minute of it, complicated equations included. We spent time at Baker Observatory, using the 8 inch telescopes and even the 16 inch telescope several times. Wow–seeing Saturn magnified enough that I could see the shadows its rings cast on it was breath-taking. I don’t remember all of the constellations we learned, but I still check the site Dr. Patterson displayed at the beginning of every class period, NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, and I check it daily.

I never stopped gasping at all the stars I can see when I’m out of the city. On a cloudless night, I can see the band of the Milky Way, pick out Orion, Bootes, and Cassiopeia.

Somehow, unexplainably, when I’m looking at the stars, I’m filled with this excitment that makes my toes tingle.

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