“You know, we’ve lived here for over eight months, and not once have we just sprawled out in the grass and stargazed,” I said to my husband one evening.

He was half in the house when he looked back to see me staring up into the sky.

“I’m sure it’ll be beautiful out here tonight… the sky is totally clear!”

He shook his head and continued on into the house.

I dismissed it, realizing that if I really wanted to soak up the starlight, I could do it with or without him. That’s just not really his kind of thing. I’m more of the romantic in the relationship, I suppose.

We went about our evening and quite unintentionally DID end up under the stars. My brother-in-law had a massive pile of brush to burn and we all sat out under the starry blanket, watching steep flames transform old leaves to ash. It was very therapeutic and I eventually retreated into the house to settle in for bed.

As I snuggled into my deep, soft pillow and clicked off my lamp, I could feel my husband restless beside me. Something was up. I didn’t say anything, but within 30 seconds the light was back on in the room.

“Grab a blanket, one you don’t mind getting a little damp,” he said to me.

I looked at him confusedly, but obeyed, pulling my big purple blanket off the bed.

I followed him outside into the massive clearing in front of our home. We live on a ten acre property surrounded by forest, soft grass, and at night, a blanket of beautiful stars.

I watched as he sprawled his blanket down in the grass first. Then he patted the spot next to him and I lay down in his arms.

I could feel the emotion building up in my throat.

He could feel it too, and he squeezed me closer to him.

We looked up to see the moon, on us like a soft glowing spotlight. The stars were twinkling gently, the air was cool, a hint that fall would be there soon.

It was perfect.

I sat up and looked at him laying in the grass with a soft, content smile on his face. I’ve loved this man for almost half my life, and tonight he showed me another side of him. He opened his eyes to meet mine.

“I wanted you to see the stars,” he said gently.

I looked at him, his eyes twinkling back at me, and realized that the light wasn’t only shining down from the sky.