Starry Starry Nights in Jasper

It's amazing how many things you don't notice about a person or place until you step away from them. The main example of this phenomenon concerning Jasper, for me anyway, is how much of the universe you can witness most nights. In Kansas City, as well as most large cities I'm sure, there isn't such a thing as a true nighttime. Strobe lights, street lights, headlights, lights illuminating billboards, neon signs, construction site lights, thousands of stadium lights allowing the boys in blue to play, flashing police car lights, lights from the Power and Light district reflected off the Sprint Center, airport runway lights spread out like flat Christmas trees, and bridge lights casting their blue hue on the steel giants amalgamate to cast a pinkish hue across the city sky, which allows only the brightest stars to be seen. After being in the city for a couple of months, I made my first return trip to J-Town. The sun had set somewhere around Butler. The tunes were blaring and I was bubbling with anticipation: I was going home! I couldn't wait to tell my friends all about how different it was in the city.  The left turn onto Thorn Road brought me to a fever pitch. I was about to burst out of my seat as I pulled into my dad's driveway and heard the familiar crackle of the gravel under my tires. As I performed the inevitable stretching after a long drive, I looked upward and felt all the anticipation, all the energy, all the racing thoughts flow out of me like a shot of hot cocoa on a cold winter night, snaking its warmth throughout me on its trip to my stomach. I saw stars. Thousands of stars, no MILLIONS of stars filled the night sky. I'm not a religious person, but I felt a piece of the divine, standing there gazing in wonder at God's cosmic game of marbles. I wondered how I could have possibly missed THIS in all my 21 years of living in Jasper. I then noticed something else, or lack of something else to be more specific: there wasn't any sound! That's not totally accurate. Of course, there was the ubiquitous cacophony of insect song, but I hardly noticed it. A mere murmur. What I noticed was the lack of any other sounds. Living in the city, you're bombarded with noise, which slackens at night, but never ceases. It felt like I was in a vacuum, among those myriad stars shining brightly and proud. The wonderful part is that I get to re-experience this sensation every time I return to Jasper. The next time you stop by for a visit, or if you're still living there, head out to the country, turn off your radios and cell phones, and just enjoy the universe which you are a part of.