Orion (for the First Time)

When I was around 11 years old I had a paper route.  The Saturday paper needed to be delivered early, well before the sun comes up in winter.  It was a wet year and I was delivering papers in a foot of snow covered in an inch of icy crust.  The wind chill was hovering at 50 below and I was miserable.  After breaking through the snow crust for what seemed like the 30th time I look straight up and Orion clobbered me in the face.

Prior to that I had never made out a constellation in the night sky.  I saw the stars but could never see the pattern, which was frustrating because I am very good at pattern recognition.  I remember giggling a little bit.  I remember thinking, as goofy as it sounds, "hey you are out in the cold too, huh."  I finished my deliveries with a warm feeling, if not warm fingers and toes.

Now I can recognize half a dozen constellations reliably, but Orion has always been special to me because he kept me company on a cold winter morning.

Bonus Track:

Tomorrow is Valentines Day.