Stars

I walk outside in my flipflops, to brush my teeth. I have my already pasted toothbrush in one hand and my nalgene full of well water in the other, the painted label and measurements long worn off from use.

We brush our teeth outside in the yard because we don't have a sink, and the grass is a good place for spitting. When I first came to Peru it felt a little like camping to go brush your teeth outside, but now it is perfectly normal.

Tonight the stars take my breath away. I can't tell you how stunning they are, there seem to be more stars than sky. The great Milky Way spreads itself across the heavens above our insignificant little house, with its green yard and the dogs sleeping in the dirt.

I stare at the stars as I brush.

I'm thankful for the lack of a water system in our house, which forces us out several times a day as we take our baths or brush our teeth or make a pilgrimage to the maggot hole out back. I have not before witnessed so many sunrises or so many sunsets or so many stars.

It's not that in my Stateside life I didn't want to witness these wonders of the heavens, I just rarely took the time.

What a blessing it is to get out. To breathe the fresh air, to tromp through the mud, to take the time to watch the sunrise, to see the lovely pinks and golds.

I hope that when I come home I will go outside every now and then, and brush my teeth, and see what's going on out of doors and up above.

You should try it, too.