When I was in high school, I took part in the Earth Science Club. Earth science was not at all my interest, but I joined the club because my two childhood best friends were also there and I was intrigued when I heard that the club would organize a regular star-gazing event on and off campus. I liked the idea of star-gazing.
The club did not have any regular activity, but a few times each semester, we hosted a star-gazing event within the club. After everybody left the school, we club members would hang out in the cluttered earth science classroom, eating dinner and watching some cartoon movies on the old TV screen until the sky darkened outside and stars started to appear. We would then go up to the rooftop with sleeping bags to watch the stars. That was everybody’s favourite part – lying down in the sleeping bags and looking up at the sky.
Our school was located in the city centre, so, not too many stars were visible. But still, it was a special feeling to lie down on the rooftop of our empty school and watch the sky with my friends. We used to have a lot of interesting conversations during the star-gazing, too.
When I was in the second year, I became very close to one of the club members, who was also my classmate. In the summer, when the club hosted another on-campus star-gazing night, she and I spent a lot of time cozying up inside our sleeping bags and talking about different things in our life.
In the morning, everybody went out to buy breakfast from the nearby convenience store except me. I decided to stay in the earth science classroom since I had already bought extra food the night before.
After everybody left, I walked to the window and sat on the windowsill. It was so quiet and peaceful. With a smile on my face, I opened the window to see what was happening outside.
“Oh, my…!”
I held my breath in surprise. There I found a most beautiful traditional Japanese garden. I had walked around that area many times before, but never realized that there was a Japanese garden right across the street.
“I have to tell her… She would love it, too!”
Shortly, people came back from their breakfast shopping and the room became noisy again. I closed the window and joined others for breakfast. As I chatted with them, however, my heart was still occupied with that beautiful scenery I had just discovered outside. It felt so sacred that I did not tell anybody about it. The secret had to be revealed in the right moment to the right person.
Interestingly though, since that day, I kept forgetting to tell my friend about this place and we never got to visit the garden together in the remainder of our time at high school. Even though we had more than a year to spare and the garden was right across the street, we did not make it.
I still remember that moment so clearly in my mind. My amazement upon seeing the beautiful garden from the window and my excitement upon thinking about sharing the view with my friend.