When I was young, my father would often fascinate me with a tale of days long past. Although I enjoyed every story my father told me, my favorites were always the ones about the immortal beings my father called "The Eldar" or elves. My favorite elven story was about the Fëanorians and the war over three gemstones called "The Silmarilli." When my father had first told me about the silmarilli, he had taken me outside and pointed to Venus, which was just beginning to show.
"According to what we know of elven legend, a half elf named Eärendil, the father of Elrond and Elros, rides his ship in the heavens each sunset and every sunrise with the remaining silmaril strapped to his brow." I had watched Venus with a sudden greater interest, "They called the resulting star: 'Gil-Estel.'"
I never forgot that story and as I grew older, I would wait for Venus to appear every sunset and raise my hand in greeting, hoping that I might be seen. Every night of my life, I continued this practice no matter where I was. When I was first married, my husband found my habit strange, but he never said anything and he never complained.
When I turned 53, we discovered that I had a life-threatening illness and the doctors didn't expect me to survive the night. That night was the first night I hadn't sent my greetings to Eärendil in over forty years. As I lay awake in bed, unable to fall asleep, I wondered if Eärendil had noticed my lack of greeting. As I closed my eyes; suddenly very tired; I knew. All at once, I knew that Eärendil had noticed my simple thanks every dusk and that he had indeed noticed my absence and worried for me. I fell asleep with a smile on my face. My eyes never saw the light of day again.