Author Information
July 10th, 1976
At about dusk on this date, I was waiting for Cerulean to walk the less than tenth of a mile from his home to my parents' driveway so that we could commence our evening plans: two movies at the Melody 49 drive-in; then dine-in pizza and salad bar at our vicinity's premiere Italian cuisine restaurant; followed by several hours of driving on our rural township's backroads so that we could talk on the c.b.
I had not yet found an adequate handle, and this had been bothering me all day. While waiting at dusk, I was leaning upon my Pinto's back end, and I watched the stars beginning to emerge in the eastern sky---a process that has always fascinated me. When Cerulean arrived, he asked what I was doing. I replied, "star-watching." One of those electrically charged, but silent, moments passed between us; and then, after the long pause, I said, "That's it, isn't it, that's my handle." He said, "Yes, I think it is." And so I became Starwatcher, and my mundane name became only a thing to sign on official forms, and by which to be criticized by my parents' ever ready inclination to question and disparage every detail of my existence. My mundane name had a pipsqueak voice, sometimes a stutter, and always spoke timidly. Starwatcher, however, had a deeply resonant voice (which was caused, we had yet to discover, by what was really a distortion in the c.b.'s audio transmission, but which proved to be serendipitous.) Often, when we met other "cb-ers" in person, they showed surprise to learn that I was Starwatcher; as the impression given by my voice did not match my face to face presence. Starwatcher gave me an invisible shield, so to speak, that protected me from, and lifted me above, the various onslaughts that the world threw at my mundane self. But mostly, Starwatcher was at the beginning of the spiritual evolution that would ultimately result in my conversion to believing (and not merely nominal) Christianity on January 9th of 1994; and, ultimately, my entrance into the Orthodox Faith through Chrismation.
Starward fka Starwatcher
It was a pleasure being
It was a pleasure being transported back to 1976 and seeing this momentous day from that large window on the back of a Pinto (owned one briefly myself) as the stars burned through the Eastern sky.
With disarming honesty and tangible details that brought that era to life, you spotlighted the beginning of your evolution—the beginning of everything that is truly important.
Well done, J9th!
Thank you. You always know
Thank you. You always know what to write, and when to write it---which makes your comments more than just gestures.
And your timing is impeccable.
Starward