Wish Upon a Star

 Wish Upon A Star

Wish upon a star, and it’s sure to come true, they say. Why is it that we connect the stars to our dreams and goals? What power do they have? Where did they come from? Aren’t they just floating balls of fire that eventually explode into oblivion? Apparently that is what we decided to connect our wishes and aspirations to. I can’t argue that the view is unbeatable. It is its own majestic scene that can’t be replicated, but only interpreted. Why as I look at it now, if I were the sky off of memory, it would be unique compared to anyone else’s masterpiece. And the interesting thing is that every night is a new masterpiece, it does not look the same, but rather very similar from the night before. Obviously, we wouldn’t catch this since the changes are so subtle. As for dreams, maybe they change; oh so subtly over time. Even in just a day, but it goes unnoticed. I look at the night sky right now and have no intention to give into the superstition that a ball of gas will determine my achievements. It is all just pure luck, in my mind. Your chances to succeed are far greater in the actions you execute rather than completely relying on hope and that the forces of the universe allow it. 

My dreams are reasonable and rational. I don’t need help from any star. I serve as an astronaut for NASA, which I have to admit, is one of the coolest jobs out there. We were assigned a mission 2 years ago and are heading to orbit next week. Now as for my dreams, I have achieved most of them already, the fun part about dreams is that you get to find new ones once one happens. After becoming an astronaut and a part of NASA, my new endeavor is to see the perspective of earth from the outside, and maybe have a cup of coffee while doing it. I have been training for the past two years to prepare for the expedition. The hardest part was preparing myself mentally rather than physically. I knew that I could adapt my body easily, but my mind is in a place of its own. There can be many complications before, during, and after take-off and that seems to be the thing that gives me the most anxiety. Of course there are many things that can interfere during the mission since outer space can be unpredictable no matter how accurate the calculations and statistics may be saying that the mission has very low chance of failure. I just hope that I will be able to witness my new dream, no matter the cost.

The day has come and if I didn’t force myself to, my eyes could’ve been open the whole night. I thought about all the good things and all the bad things. These missions are no joke, you put your life on the line for research and discovery. For the knowledge of humanity, the only thing they don’t get from it is the experience. The experience of seeing Mother Earth in all her glory. I’ve been well aware of the “overview effect”, and if I do not endure such an experience then I will have found the mission all for nothing, and I would lose motivation and purpose for my work. I arrived at headquarters and it already is chaotic, our engineers are on the edge of their seats hoping that their months upon months of research don’t go into shambles. Everyone is in their department and ready for the challenge they are about to face. I meet up with my crew and we’re all feeling tired, excited, anxious, adventurous, hopeful, and preparing ourselves for the worst. After about an hour HQ ordered us to head to the spacecraft and get ready for lift off. We said our farewells to our families. I went up to my daughter and gave her a tight hug, as we both were in tears not knowing what the future may hold for us. I was fortunate to have someone that was so understanding of my career and research, supporting my passion and knowing the importance it is to me. But regardless of my passion, nothing will replace the love and importance of my daughter who is my whole universe. I slowly walked away from her, where we held our hands tightly until I was out of reach. My crew and I stepped onto the spacecraft and began to execute protocol. We strapped in and checked all functions of the spaceship. We immediately were getting commands and listened carefully to what HQ updated to see if we were still able to continue lift off. The process went smoothly and we began our countdown. “10...9..8…” I thought about my daughter, my dream, and my work. “3...2...1” It was now or never and all I wanted was to live through my new dream.

We traveled up into the thin atmosphere and into infinite space. It was beautiful, the stars were full, it was like someone sprinkled the twinkling lights on the black canvas of the universe. As we started cruising into orbit I pressed myself against a window and my lungs no longer existed. It was there, my dream, the stars and Goldilocks planet herself; Earth. Could see all the lights in London and the Atlantic sea separated the masses of lands. The lights of New York were the brightest and beamed through the atmosphere. But none of it could compare the stars that twinkled. It was everything I had hoped for and more. I looked at the stars and bright light and said thank you. I realized why we connected so much with them. When we look up in our darkest hours, it is those small specks of hope that lead us to where we wish to be and the stars remind us of what is ahead if we dream enough. So, I owe to the stars to make my dream come true.