Last summer Abby was only 2-1/2 years old. After a typical weekend visit it was time for her to go home. For some lucky reason, I had become a player in one of her standard rituals; I was appointed to carry her out to the car and put her in her toddler car seat.
It was nearly dark when we got outside. There was just a bit of light from the sunset, but the sky above was almost black, and it was unusually devoid of clouds. Out of habit, whenever I see a clear night sky and a grandchild is present, I scanned quickly for the Moon. It was completely absent, but there was an extremely bright star-like object in the West.
“Look at that bright star.” I said to Abby, “Isn’t it pretty?”
Then, feeling guilty about the inaccuracy of my statement, I corrected it by saying, “Actually, it’s not really a star. It’s a planet named Venus.”
Abby considered the facts as she knew them, and then replied, “you mean like Tatooine?”
“What?” I thought. The name “Tatooine” was vaguely familiar but for some reason I couldn’t place it with any astronomical facts. Then I remembered the Star Wars movie, where Luke Skywalker, the main character, was raised on the planet Tatooine.
“Yes Abby,” I replied, “Venus is a planet…just like Tatooine.”
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1 comment:
That's awesome!
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