Karen’s Star et al

I’d like to start this post by apologizing for not posting anything for a couple months. I have a half dozen posts staged for the blog, but I’ve been going through some emotional changes. Some are good, I think.

One of the good things is that I have the ability to tell stories of Karen without only feeling sad. I still feel sad, but can also laugh and feel joyous about the story too. I’m still trying to work all of that out.

For today, I’m going to post this tale. I started writing this several months ago. It’s something personal about Karen’s star, but not really about Karen.

Karen’s Star

I think most people know about Karen’s star. The Christmas season after her passing I installed a large LED star in the huge tree at the end of our driveway in Karen’s honor.

Her star could be seen from a quarter mile away. I mounted it about 10′ up from a branch in a large tree. I powered it with a couple of car batteries and initially thought it would stay lit for a week or two, but it stayed lit for way longer.

When the batteries ran out, instead of taking it down, I bought some solar cells and charger and figured out a way to keep it lit permanently. It was a really important project for me.

At first, I’d look at the star and feel sorrow, but as time went on, I started to feel comforted by it. I started looking forward to seeing it, and it made me feel a little better.

Karen’s star stayed lit for almost a year without any troubles, but then a few months ago, human nature struck. Somebody decided that they wanted the star, so they cut it down and took it.

I was really mad at first, but let myself calm down before deciding what to do.

Karen and I were really good at making the best of bad situations, and I tried my best to figure out how to turn a bad situation into a good one. Eventually I figured it out, and I decided that this was just an opportunity to put a star up in a new place.

I’m really pleased to share that Karen’s new star is at the top of her sledding hill. Here’s a pic.

The good thing for me is that I can now see the star from the road, and also from the house. I couldn’t see it from the house before. If I’m feeling sad at night I can look out a window and see her star shining brightly. If it’s after dark, I can even see it without my glasses.