Happy Birthday!!!

Another circle (er... ellipse) around the sun... 

6:23 am... Today is Little Man's 5th birthday. We will have a small celebration at Chicken Park (known to many as Chick-fil-a) this evening. Since I have class tonight, it will just be Honey Bee and Little Man and myself, with a small bag of presents for him to enjoy. 

His big party is on Saturday at Little Land. All of his classmates and a few other friends have been invited, and a grand time - with pizza and cupcakes and lots of ways to play - will be had by all. He will have a blast and will wear himself out for sure! Come to think of it, Honey Bee and I will likely be worn out by the time it's over, too! I can't wait!!

Being the science geek that I am, my mind always wanders to strange places when birthdays come around. First, I consider that Earth has only orbited the Sun five times since he was born. All of the things which have happened since then - wars, concerts, elections, weddings and bombings, love and heartbreak - are crammed into those five little revolutions of our blue planet about the fiery vastness of Sol. In contrast, Jupiter hasn't even completed half of it's orbit since that awesome afternoon when he joined our muddled little life.

In fact, our second closest neighbor, Barnard's Star, generated light on the day that Little Man was born, and that light hasn't even reached us yet! And it's travelling at nearly 300,000 kilometers per second!! Feeling small?  Isolated? Don't!! The awesome thing about the grandness of the universe is that we can comprehend it, observe it and appreciate it. We are part of it - the result of generations of stars living and dying, only to be reborn in successive generations. Without the stars, we would not be here, and without us, they would not be gazed upon and admired for their beauty. Look up into the sky tonight. Connect with the universe. Celebrate Little Man's birthday, and the wonder that life offers us all... 6:40 am...