look up

Got kicked out of the Dairy Queen last night. But it was a good thing, really, and they were very, very nice about it.

I just had a hankering for one of those cherry-dipped cones (with vanilla inside, of course!) and last night I had my chance. And it was perfect.

Thing is,  along with indulging myself in one of those quintessentially summer delights in a cone, I was fortunate to enjoy good conversation. And we talked, and we talked.

My cone and the raspberry sundae across from me were long gone and we were still chatting, yes, until closing time. And when the staff told us very sweetly to let them know when we wanted out since the doors were now locked, we talked our way out the door and down the road.

And then we were standing on the grass in the dark staring up at that amazing summer night sky filled from end to end with stars. We could hear the soft snap of a deer’s step in the brush. The air got cool. The darker shapes of the trees made the sky glow behind them.

The Milky Way. The Big Dipper. All those stars, I do not know their names, splayed so lavishly across the sky as if painted with abandon. Just look up, it’s there for you, too.