Published September 3, 2017
"A Thousand Miles"
"Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth." ~ John 17:17-19, New American Bible
Katie only went camping once, and thought it was more than enough for one lifetime.
It was August, almost the end of the kids' summer vacation, and Sam was home between assignments. The Holts wanted to do something special together, to bond before they resumed school and work. Somehow Matt had the idea of camping, something they had not done since Katie was born. Her idea of camping was setting up a tent and a telescope in their backyard. Sam did some quick research and decided to drive out to a forest reservation and hike up a small mountain, which would provide a good vantage point from which to watch the upcoming Perseids shower. Colleen thought a camping trip would help them break out of their reliance on technology. Matt thought it would be a fun opportunity to study evolutionary biology on a local level (meaning on Earth).
Only Katie was not particularly looking forward camping. At school she always preferred having recess indoors rather than outdoors. She loved learning, but nature did not appeal to her in any way.
In fact, Katie found the ideas behind the whole trip ironic. "If we're trying to connect with nature, shouldn't we not be driving so far? You know, increasing our usual carbon emissions?"
Sam and Colleen exchanged glances. Matt even looked up from his book on local wildlife, curious to see how they would answer. After a moment they both broke into smiles, with a weird combination of pride and sheepishness.
"I guess you have a point," Sam conceded. "Come to think of it, it be better for the environment if we, oh, I don't know, walked, or rented bikes—the kind you pedal with your feet."
Katie tried to hide her alarm at this offhand suggestion. "No—that's not what I—if we're on a deadline, we should do whatever's fastest."
During the car ride, Sam lectured them on safety procedures, demonstrating his knowledge of how to survive in almost any environment or emergency. Katie let the excess information flow in and out of her mind, like water through a sieve, holding on to useful facts while discarding trivia that she was unlikely to ever need to recall it in the future.
To make her parents think she was really interested, she asked the most pertinent question she could think of. "What are you supposed to do if you get lost?"
"Well, if you've completely lost your bearings, it's usually best to stay where you are and wait for other people to find you."
Katie looked confused and skeptical of this idea. Sam tried to explain, "If you keep moving around when you already don't know where you are, you could end up going in circles, or you might just miss someone else who's moving around or looking for you. If people are looking for you, you should stay put—but it helps if you can find a way to let them know where you are, make it easy for them to spot you."
"Does that count in space, too?" Most people vaguely aware that space was big, but scientists and explorers like the Holts knew the actual and estimated sizes of galaxies, and the fact that space was mostly empty. It was almost impossible to imagine how it might feel to be lost in such incomprehensible vastness.
"Yes, I think the same rule applies."
Colleen considered the trip a success because no one got lost or injured. Sam thought it a success because they reached their destination in time. Even Matt thought it had been an enjoyable excursion.
Katie was the only one who felt miserable for most of the hike. The sun burned her skin, the mosquitos sucked her blood, the plants gave her poison oak, and the pollen made her sneeze. She could not see, smell, or touch everything that her family said was so wonderful.
She found some respite when they made it to the top of the mountain Sam had picked out as their vantage point. The terrain was rockier here, with less trees, and became level enough for them to spread out their blankets and set up a tent.
They did not need telescopes out here. The lack of city lights made the stars and planets appear distinct against the night sky.
"You know, stars are really weird, if you think about them," Matt said as they waited for the meteor shower to start.
"Everything about space is weird, if you think about it," Katie responded.
"That's probably true. But hear me out. You can only see stars at night, when there's no sunlight. But the sun is a star too; it just blocks out the light of other stars because it's the one closest to us. The only difference between them is their distance from us. Isn't it weird to think about—how the way we perceive things isn't how they actually are?"
Katie scoffed, smiling. "You're a scientist. If everything was the way it seemed, you'd have nothing to study."
Her family was in such high spirits that the half-serious, half-sarcastic reply made them laugh more than it probably merited. But hearing them laugh made her feel happier than she had felt so far on the trip. And when the stars started to shoot across the sky, she had to admit that the trip had not been a complete waste.
Music: "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton
