New Mexico Skies have always been my favorite

I remember a time when I was younger, I went on a drive with a friend of mine. We drove up to a scenic spot outside of Santa Fe and parked at the edge of a cliff of one of the iconic mesas in that area. It was dark outside and the sky was so black and covered in specks of light. Like spilled salt on a black table cloth, stars were sprinkled all across the night sky. If you stare at it long enough you feel like you’re actually in space. I mean, the amount of stars you can see out there, in those desert skies, is nothing short of spectacular. In that moment, that was the first time I really understood why they call it the Land of Enchantment.

As we sat there and talked about what the fuck we were going to do with our live we felt were just beginning, I saw a shooting star pass across the sky. I felt so fortunate to see one and made a wish. But before I could even think of what to wish for, another passed through the sky. Then another. And another. And then we realized we had chosen the perfect time to be up there as a meteor shower was unfolding before our eyes.

I’m all for living in the now and enjoying what’s right in front of me. When I see a New Mexico sky, whether  it be a sunset, sunrise, a night sky, or just the middle of the day when you wouldn’t expect anything special, I can’t help but look in awe and take a moment to just observe and appreciate it. I joke sometimes that when you look at a New Mexico sky, you can almost see the curvature of the Earth. But every now and again, slowly but surely, that memory of being up on that mesa and watching the meteor shower pops into my head. The synchronistic nature of us being up there at the right time and in the young and eager state of mind we were both in, I felt like I we were supposed to be there. To observe and appreciate what’s in our lives and understand the vast expanse of the universe.

Maybe that’s a little too hippie for some. But to me, not enough people appreciate what’s right in front of them. Let’s maybe try, just once, to take off the blinders and realize where we are living, wherever that may be for anyone. And maybe… just maybe… we’ll actually see the world.