THE SECOND STAR TO THE RIGHT...

Yes, it was a simpler time.  And I was so much younger.  Way younger.  Lord, so much younger...

It was Northern Wisconsin.  Summer.  Up at the cottage.  Why the hell we called a 3 bedroom, 2 and a half bath ranch style house with a double car garage and lake frontage a "cottage" still amazes me to this day.  But there I was, splayed out on my back on the dock staring up at the night sky.  Happy as hell.  I not only watched the moon change shape, I watched it as it floated across the sky.  I heard fish jump out of the water.  I watched meteorite showers.  I saw the Aurora Borealis dance before my eyes as waves gently splashed beneath me and the boat rocked up against the dock as I dangled my feet in the water.

Shit, I miss that little guy.  And he misses those nights.  That moon was amazing.  And the air was cool, warm, moist, amazing, wondrously weird and full of bugs.  And fireflies.  Lots and lots of fireflies.  Or as I like to call them lightenin' bugs...  I remember catching mayonnaise jars full of those things and then letting them loose in grandma's house for no other reason than that I thought they were cool.  Yeah, I was not an easy child...

But to lay on that dock and stare at the night sky.  Eyes open.  Mouth agape.  Just gazing up at the beauty of it.  Covered in bugs.  On a good night, I go back there in my dreams and hear water splashing underneath me.  The green light on the dock on the other side of the lake.  The smell of fresh water.  Lots of it.  And the feel of somewhat slimy wood on my back.

Yeah, that was heaven. And I still always try to find the second star to the right...