Orion's Belt....

I was nine ....kneeling on the cot I slept on... in the bedroom of our trailer that had carpet we weren't allowed to walk on in our bare feet....because it "squished."  Under my pillow was a metal band aid box filled with some change, a dollar bill and rocks that I had collected because I thought they were precious stones (I still have them).  The night was completely clear...except for the stars in the sky.  I was just barely tall enough to put my arms on the window sill and I could feel the warm, moist Florida breeze against my face.

The house was completely quiet...unusually still...as if I was all alone....and there it was clear...brilliantly bright...as if it had been placed in the sky...just for me.  I could see the outline of his tunic and the star that was the point of his sword and the three stars that wrapped around his waist.   He looked down on me as if to say...I am here...I will watch over you...I will be your champion.

In the light of his greatness...I made a wish that night that one day I would be strong and bright like him....that I would be a great warrior and protect others...that I would protect my sisters and that I would never falter or lose faith...that I would always be there in the night as a guardian...and I promised that in return I would always look for him in the sky.

Many years have passed...and I have not always been strong and my brightness has waned often.  I am a warrior...but often for the wrong things...and rarely for myself.   I could not protect my sisters and I left them in the night.  I have lost faith and regained it many times and have reached a proficiency in faltering that often astounds me.  I try...in my work...to be a guardian....I try to see small successes as great victories...but work is simple in the grand scheme of life...but I have always looked for him in the night sky.  This promise I have kept....to this I have been true....

I will keep trying...moving forward...attempting to debate the fates...and hope for the day that someone sees me as a treasure, instead of a challenge...but until that day comes...

I wait for the day that he looks down... reaching out in the dark night and says....you have done well...you have been a champion for others...when they could not defend themselves...you have believed when others doubted...you have dreamed when others dared not....and on that day I will earn Orion's belt.