#catchafallingstar

yes hi hello a Classic if i do say so myself

You look like you're having a rainy day. Would you like a fallen star?" She held out a little envelope made of yarn filled with stars. "When you catch a fallibg star you're supposed to save it for a rainy day, but I have enough, I can share," she said with a smile while her eyes shined, as full of innocence as a child's, as filled with wisdom as a hundred year old scholar, and as loving as a grandmother's. I hesitantly reached out a picked one.

She looked me in the eyes and said, "The thing to remember about rainy days is that rain will wash away everything if you let it. So make your wish then hold out your hands and let the rain wash away everything you don't need and leave you clean and whole again

She smiled that same smile and her eyes shined as she stood and left as quietly as she had come. I watched her go and held the star to my heart and looked up at the ceiling as if I could see the sky, then closed my eyes and let the rain pour down on me, washing away the pain and heartache. Then I opened my eyes and, carefully placing my fallen star into my pocket, turned back to my homework feeling cleansed.

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The next time I saw her, I had just gotten out of class and was heading across campus. She was sitting criss-cross on the small stone wall surrounding one of the little flower beds. She had some bright yellow yarn wrapped around her fingers.

"Making more stars?" I asked

She spun to face me as much as she could without falling, her while face lighting up with that same innocent loving wisdom.

"You can't make falling stars, you have to catch them." She said it like it was a well known fact that I should have known, while sounding teasing and instructive.

"And," she continued, "You have to catch them at night." She paused and tilted her head consideringly

" 'course its always better to tempt them down than to just catch them, that way you know what kind of star it is."

"How do you tempt a star to fall?" I asked amused and slightly curious. Wanting to keep listening to her and the innocent loving wisdom in her tone that sounded oddly like home.

"You lay out at night watching the sky, and you wispher your secrets. Your dreams and hopes and prayers. Some memories work, but if you're not careful and share the wrong memories, then the stars that fall might just be tears from the moon. She mourns the pains and sufferings of those who love her enough to whisper to her at night. If you catch moon tears then you put them in your pocket by your heart and keep them there until your heart is so full of joy that it cleanses the tears and they become wishing stars." She paused for a moment and I wasn't sure if she was breathing because she said so much or if she was controlling her emotions.

"The best place to catch stars is on top of the mountain, out where there is only nature and you and the stars and the moon. It's the best place to tell secrets."

She blinked and turned to the crochet in her hand, it was a flower. She cut the thread and picked up a yarn envelope just like her star one, but this one was filled with flowers. After carefully placing the flower into the envelope she turned to me and grinned.

"This is my pocket full of posies."

Then she quickly packed up her things and stood. Knowing she was ready to leave I said, "maybe someday I can go star catching with you?" It was half a question and half and offer and the smile she gave me made the horrific pounding of my heart worth it.

"I'd love that." She said before she left.

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I saw her several times after that around campus we always shared a smile or a couple of words comment about posies and stars and she always had that smile filled with wonder and joy and wisdom and love.

One day when it felt right just before summer began I asked her about star catching again. And she agreed and that night we went out to the top of the mountain and laid it on the grass and stared at the stars her hands busy with yarn and a hook as she whispered secrets and dreams and prayers and Hope oh, and I replied in kind with my dreams and secrets and prayers and hopes. when I finished I turned to look at her and saw her looking at me and could finally named what I saw in her eyes, it was the majestic wonder and wonderful Majesty that you witness when you look at the stars the feeling that feels you the feeling the Stars inspire shown in her eyes as the starlight played in her hair. And without quite meaning to without deciding to I leaned forward and kissed her. Just a brush of lips but when I pulled back she had a small smile that was somehow, far better than all the grins I always saw on her face.

"I've never been kissed before."

And that night laying on the grass in a bed of fallen stars, and sharing a kiss no longer than the first, but still filled with the wonder and Majesty of the stars and the intimacy of those who have shared all their secrets with each other.