Two days ago my soon to be 6 year old nephew, Farhan asked me this,
‘Cu, ingat tak masa Farhan umur 3 tahun, Cu ajar Farhan nyanyi lagu Twinkle Twinkle little star?’
‘Mesti la ingat.. Farhan ingat jugak ke?’
‘Ingat!’
I didn’t know why he asked me that but it really did my made my day. Last night before going to sleep I received a Whatsapp message from a friend, Kak Faiza, telling me that there will be a meteor shower on Sunday. I immediately googled and read that it could also be seen last night. It was 11pm and we were almost asleep. I told my husband that I was gonna wait for it because I am always fascinated by these things. He said, Ok and goodnight. I pulled up the blinds and looked up the sky. Our house here in Erlangen is quite far from the city so it was relatively dark. And luckily the sky was clear and I could see all the stars and learn them thanks to Google Sky by Android. I also saw Venus and Jupiter and the crescent moon.
I wasn’t sure that if I was too excited or if I was imagining it but I think I saw the first one at 12:20am. But it was too thin and short that I decided not to count that one. I was starting to get sleepy and I decided to read up a little bit more on the meteor shower. The internet site said that it can be seen clearly at 1:05. So I waited. I was about to give up at 1:45 and almost took off my glasses when I saw a bright shooting star right at the spot that I was looking. I repeatedly said Subhanallah (Glory to Allah) and thanked God that I am given this opportunity again to witness this.
Flashback in 1998
I was 17 and was in boarding school. A couple of my friends and I stood outside of our dormatry from 12am to 4am to watch the meteor shower. How was it? You may ask me. Unbelievable Unfassbar, the Germans like to say it. Imagine looking up the dark sky with bright stars, and suddenly you see stars flying around like balls of fire. That you don’t get to see everyday. I counted each and everyone of them. I saw 13.
Last night I saw 5 but 3 was too short and went by too fast. I only saw two clear ones at the exact spot that I was looking. I’m sure that I could have seen more if I moved around my room but I didn’t want to disturb my husband sleeping. But it’s okay. The two that I saw was amazingly beautiful. Words can’t even describe it. By 2:45am, the moon was shining brightly straight at our faces that it almost disturbed my husband sleeping. Jupiter was standing beautifully next to it. And because it was too bright, I couldn’t see anymore meteor shower and I decided to bring down the blinds at 3am.
Before going to sleep, I thought about what happened that night. About the four hours of looking at the stars, thinking and praying, hoping not only to see the meteor shower but also praying for many other good things. For me, for my husband and my parents, my family, my in laws, my friends, my students and for all mankind. I also thought about how bright and beautiful the moon was and how amazing that I could see the planet Jupiter with my own eyes. In my head I was thinking about how the moon was really stealing the limelight from the meteor shower. Since how rare it is to have a meteor shower and how you can see the moon every month.
It got me thinking about life. We often are amazed by something so bright and shiny but norm like the moon that we sometimes forget that there is more out there. There is something else that is rare but uniquely beautiful in it’s own way, like the meteor shower if we look hard enough. The moon will somehow steal the limelight and win at the end of the day (in this case, night), but if you are lucky and if you are patient and wait long enough, you get to see a shooting star. And even if it takes forever, in my case, 4 hours last night and 14 years since 1998, the wait is going to be worth every second.
And just like a baby, I slept after singing in my heart,
Twinkle Twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky..
If you are interested and have the chance, you can witness them tonight from 10pm to 4am 🙂 Thank you Kak Faiza. May Allah bless you 🙂
I'm at chapter three 