Worth Waking Up For, Someone Told Me...

The buzz of the alarm went off at 5:25 a.m. as it does every weekday morning. A few seconds later, I lumbered out of bed and into the restroom. A moment later, I hear my wife's voice, slightly muffled by the closed door.

"Honey, I'm going out to the driveway for a minute."
(I grunt in acknowledgment, nevermind that it made no sense to my semi-conscious brain.)

A few moments later, she comes back inside.

"C'mon, Allen, you gotta come out and see this. You can see Venus, Jupiter and Mars in the sky!"

Still semi-conscious, I explained that I really didn't want to go outside yet.

"C'mon, Allen, it's a once-in-a-lifetime event!"

I sighed. Her tone told me that she would be very disappointed if I did not go see what she wanted me to see. I do not like disappointing my wife, so I re-emerged into the bedroom, put on the clothes she'd laid out for me and went outside with her.

It was fairly striking, I'll say that. Venus was shining like a very bright star, Jupiter was to its right and Mars was faintly visible to the left of Venus.

I look at it for all of about two minutes before heading back inside. It was impressive but I'm a person of habit and duty. I knew I didn't have the luxury of enjoying this stellar phenomenon long enough to throw off the morning schedule of getting my sons up and driving them to school on time.

So, a little bit later, my wife wakes up the boys for me and proceeds to take them outside to view the planets.

Actually, I'm glad they got to see them, just as they'd seen the lunar eclipse. It's all part of the wonders of God's universe and I do think it's important for them to appreciate it. I'm told it was much fainter in the sky because the sun had begun to rise -- but they still got to see it, which is the important thing.

And I still got the kids breakfast and to school on time.

Best Wishes,
Allen