We woke up at 3:45 a.m. and bundled our two girls up in hopes of seeing a meteor shower. We drove across town to a space where it was dark, set out our camping chairs, and looked to the sky.
Call us crazy for waking up our 5 and 1 year old in the early hours just before dawn so we could just have a chance at seeing a meteor fly through the night sky, but let me explain where we were coming from. Kennedy and I had just finished up her Space Science unit in our homeschool. Daniel had heard that there would be a meteor shower that night and it was going to be extra good because it was the night of a new moon. So things seemed to align pretty well, but the piece that really propelled us forward was when Daniel said, "If I were living my dream life, I would wake up to see it."
With that thought, off we were. We want to live our dream life, and in most ways we can do that now. Usually it just takes a small leap out of our comfort zone and into the potential of realizing the dream.
So we end up sitting at the side of a field in the middle of the night all huddled together trying to keep warm. We are watching the sky, waiting, anticipating, hoping to see a streak of light. We have to keep our eyes wide open, we don't want to miss anything. A few minutes into the experience I see one. Moments later Daniel catches a glimpse of another one. And then the moment we had all been wishing for, Daniel, Kennedy, and I all saw a big one at the same time. United, we gasped in wonder. It was an incredible moment to experience together. A moment that was so rich with feeling. It was a moment of sonderity.
After that moment the clouds rolled in quickly and covered the night sky. We had been on the edge of that field 10 minutes and combined saw 3 meteors. And it was most definitely worth it. It enriched our lives and relationships. It changed us to have experienced this wonder together. We reflected on it again and again throughout the day. It is now a vivid memory I don't want to forget.
Sonderity is a feeling of richness. It is depth. It is abundance. And when we can all experience it at the same time it connects us. I am filled with gratitude that we followed the alignment we felt to have that 10 minute experience together as a family, to lean into the feelings of sonderity together.