The crescent sliver of the moon
wanes slowly across the night sky, the brightest stars sprinkled across the
darkness. A night sky with blinking lights from airplanes entering the Houston
Intercontinental landing pattern string out northward, airplanes dropping
through 10,000 feet, slowing to 200 mph, ghosting past the lunar crescent, a
string of jewels stretching out to the limits of my eyesight. I’m enjoying a
late summer evening with a slight chill in the air, Friday night at the lake. A
party is underway across the bay with the mummer of cheery conversation
occasionally marked with the easy gay laughter of a young woman. Sounds mixing with sounds
all drifting over the water, ducks quaking and the distant bark of a dog.
Another dog answers from down bay, I speak fluent dog and know they are just
talking, telling each other that “All is well”. Another peaceful night beside
the lake, I lay back to look skyward and engage my favorite fantasy, starships
and exploration, remote stars with alien planets, mystery waiting for
resolution. A most basic human dream, what is over the next hill?
I’ve spent many nights under the open
sky, bivouacs in the Rocky Mountains, on coastal barrier islands and out in the
open woodlands, rarely sleeping inside the tent. On my small sailboat I
preferred sleeping in the open cockpit to the cuddy cabin. When racing
catamarans I would sleep on the trampoline at nights with the main sail pulled
over the mast for cover. Now I sleep outdoors in my hammock. I wake with the
predawn light, sleeping outside after sunrise takes a different mindset. I can
nap outdoors in the afternoon, just not very often. I have several hammocks; my
favorite is a two person cotton weave that wraps around me cocoon like. Add a
light sleeping bag and a deep comfortable night’s sleep is inevitable. Stage 4 REM
sleep that doctors and marketers talk about is available via hammock with
sleeping bag. No drugs required.
I use a trick to calm my mind for
sleep. I imagine corridors in my mind that have a large bank vault door. I can
shove thoughts of politics or rumors of war or the fight with a family member into
the vault and lock the door. Then I remain in the moment of the night, quite
and settled. Thinking of solar collectors in lunar Lagrangian orbits or maybe
the momentary gravitational balance of tomorrow’s Autumn Equinox.
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