Describe the perfect day, as an astronaut

It’s not the dream state of literally being as light as a feather that fills me with awe.

Neither is it the billion upon billion of stars surrounding me.

It’s the knowledge that my eyes are soaking up the outline of Earth.

With each glance I can see the deep blue shade of the ocean and finally begin to understand its mass.

I can see the beginning and the end of each country and as I measure it, in this moment, with my index finger filling its entire width – when I have my one eye shut.

But more breath-taking than that, is the knowledge that when night creeps over the sea, over the land; there are millions of ‘stars’ coming to life upon the Earth.

Man-made structures light up to fend off the darkness, which I can clearly see is a losing battle as night sticks to its surroundings like thick, stubborn goo.

The amazement as I finally begin to understand the gift of what we have been given: Planet Earth.

To think that whilst we walk up on the ground, our feet getting dirty as we stomp about killing creatures we may or may not see before us; to think that whilst we sail upon the seas with ships we claim are flawless, we are not as powerful as we maintain to be.

It is only in this moment, that I, my crew and only us, can appreciate this gift absolutely for what it is worth, because it is in this moment that we finally admit, we are not as supreme or as precious as we believe we are.

Planet Earth is only our gift to value for a short time.
And value it, we should.

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