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“Hey Meems,” Roger asked me one day, “Have you ever seen the stars?”
“No, why?”
“The night sky without any light pollution is one of the most beautiful sights our planet has to offer.”
“I grew up poor and didn’t exactly have the luxury of getting to go off to the wilderness to relax.”
Roger decided that he needed to take me camping. He convinced one of his buddies to loan him his car for the weekend and off we went. We arrived at a campground on the shore of a lake. The mountains were something else. I had grown accustomed to the lights, sounds, and smells of New York City. It was as if I’d stepped into a whole different world. The orange leaves of the trees glowed in the early fall sunlight. The air was so sweet it made me cough. My nostrils didn’t know to react to something so nice. When home smells of cigarettes, piss, and booze, pine feels almost unnatural.
Roger and I walked hand in hand around the lake. We sat down for our picnic. I couldn’t stop myself from rolling in the fallen pine needles as if they were snow. Bird calls and wind through the trees accompanied our laughter as the only sounds.
I cuddled as close to Roger as I could and wrapped my arms around him while we watched the sunset. Suddenly it hit me just how alone we were.
“Roger, how do I know that nobody will come murder us in our sleep?”
“I think you’ve watched too many horror movies” was his response.
“Probably, but what if something were to happen?” My tone grew more serious.
“Tell you what, we’ll sleep with my knife by us and if anyone tries anything I’ll fight them off for you baby.”
I laughed and kissed his neck which then led to us making out. Things would have escalated but I didn’t want to make myself more vulnerable by getting naked in the middle of the woods. Roger turned the flashlight on and led us to our tent. I stopped and looked up at the sky. I didn’t say a word and stood there with my mouth open. The beauty of the night sky took me by surprise and I simply cried. Nothing compared to it. Though we were freezing, Roger and I layed outside for almost an hour stargazing. He showed me the constellations and pointed out a planet. I assumed shooting stars were something made up until I saw my first one. Then we saw another and another. Neither of us knew that we picked a weekend with a meteor shower.
“I know I’m not supposed to share my shooting star wish but I want you to know it.” I turned to face Roger. “What I wish for was to have a long, fulfilling life and to spend all the rest of it with you.”
He choked up. “I wished for almost the exact same thing. I made a wish for us to have a family.”
“When we have kids, we need to bring them here and show them the stars.”
“ When ?”
“I firmly believe that it will happen. You’ve given me so much hope for the future. Roger, I need you to know that you and your love have changed my entire fucking life.” Now it was my turn to sob.
He insisted on carrying me into our tent. The night’s cold had no effect on me as I drifted off to sleep, tucked safely in the arms of the love of my life.