Outdoor writing contest second place: Crystal stars
Picture this: Tall evergreen trees, their branches fanned out and covering the sky. White sand underneath, bordering a sapphire lake that rippled in a gentle breeze.
I was out camping with some of my friends. We were doing regular camping things like playing in the water, chasing each other around, and enjoying the outdoors. We set our tent up already, and so we were free to roam the forest and enjoy the green map that was set out on the land.
Screaming filled the air as we chased each other around with nature’s swords. We made grand castles out of wet sand, only to be crushed in a fit of laughter by another boy. At the campsite, there was a lock box to store our food and protect it from bears, so naturally, we tried to see just how many of us could fit in it at a time. If I recall correctly, we stuffed five of us circus contortionists into that box. It instantly became sticky and pungent. We fell out in a sappy mess.
The adults with us left us mostly alone to do our own thing until dinner time. We roasted hot dogs, and unsuccessfully tried to pop popcorn over red and yellow ringed-in stones. It popped, only after it was spilled into the fire.
For dessert we had a camping favorite, perfected by years of trial and error: Dutch oven pineapple upside-down cake. Rings of pineapple covered in warm fluffy clouds that fought the cold as night came.
As darkness enveloped the sky, we changed from sword fighters to wilderness explorers, attempting to find mythical creatures in the forest. Perhaps we would stumble across a snipe, or maybe even the mythical Sasquatch. We were much too loud to truly find any creature though, we just tried to scare each other by grabbing limbs in the inky blackness.
Once we were back to the campsite, this chaos continued. My mind was becoming cloudy, and only after attempting to trap a duck under a canoe did I realize the overwhelming beauty of the strung lights in the sky. The rest of the boys filed out to have more chaos and jokes, but I was frozen. A million pinpricks of effulgence hung over the lake, doubled in reflection. The water had calmed and became a mirror.
My breath was slow and controlled. Those stars, millions of miles away, were placed there just for me at that moment. Their beauty was mine, and it was something too sacred for a camera to capture.
The chaotic sounds in the background continued, but they were not there inside of me. Someone asked me if I was OK, and I wanted to respond that I was the best I had ever been in my whole life!
When you look at stars, they have a way of making you think about your life and what truly matters. They chip away gilded and meaningless desires and reveal the raw material your life is built upon.
I wanted to stay, sitting on the back of that flipped canoe forever, just staring at the beauty of the lake, framed in trees and garnished with glowing diamonds.
And that is what I am doing here. Immortalizing my thoughts in ink, so that I can, for a moment, stay in my memory forever.