Brightest Star

Growing up, my grandfather and I would always peer through the telescope to look at the
beautiful, luminous stars. As a little background to my story, my family would always go to my
grandparents’ house every once in a while, to catch up with each other. Being the pure, innocent,
clueless child, I would always retreat behind my parents’ legs because I was too shy to socialize
with them. This situation remained for a few visits’ time, until my grandfather introduced me to
the thing that piqued my interest forever.

“Little child, come and I will show you something beautiful.” My grandpa uttered in a
soft, sweet voice. Convinced by his invitation, I took a few steps forward as he proceeded to
entertain me. “This is what you call a telescope. Try to take a look.” He said with a smile. After
showing me how to do it, I mimicked what my grandpa did and proceeded to look through the
telescope. The moment I did so, I felt my pupils dilate, and my heart skip a beat, for I fell in love
with the sight that greeted me. I saw a fragment of the what was the vast outer space, including
certainly, the awe-demanding heavenly bodies. “See those bright things young one? Those are
called stars.” I almost didn’t catch what he said as I was distracted by how wonderful they all
look like. The next statement, however, caught my innocent kid-like attention. “Let’s play a
simple game little one. We’ll look through the telescope and attempt to find a bright star. The
one who’ll find a brighter one wins.” Given the fact that I’m little girl who’d naturally enjoy
such simple forms of entertainment, I accepted the challenge without hesitation.

I led the charge and found quite a bright star. I was certain that it was the brightest among
the other stars, and so I fixed the angle of the telescope there, and locked in my coordinates. I
confidently handed it over to my grandpa to look at it. “Not bad little child, not bad.” He started
to look for his star as he moved the telescope a few angles away. “However, I think this is
brighter.” My grandpa stepped away carefully from the telescope carefully to show me the star
he found. I peered through and did see it was brighter than mine. “Guess I win this one, hehe.”
My grandpa expressed as he seemed quite proud of his victory. Not that long after, my parents
called me as we were already packing up to return home. “Lisa, give your grandparents a kiss
goodbye, honey. We’re about to leave.” Our stargazing enjoyment was then cut short. I gave my
farewells and entered our car. Before we hit the road, grandpa told me something as he waved
goodbye: “Until next time young one. Try to beat me until then.” I smiled and returned the wave
as our ride started moving.

Months turned to years as our duel with my grandpa became a quite a routine every visit.
However, even with that big of a timeframe, I still haven’t beaten him. For some reason, I just
really can’t seem to find the brightest star there is. “Ha! I win again little one. I may have grown
older but you still haven’t won!” My grandpa exclaimed as he followed up with boastful but
contagious laugh. “Just give me more time and I swear I’ll have all the stars mastered by then,
grandpa.” I replied as I joined his laughter. “Oh no, look at the time dear, your parents might
already be looking for you.” My grandpa said worriedly. “Aw shucks, well until next time
grandpa!” “Yes, ‘til next time.”

A few more years past and I still strived to beat my grandfather. On one very chilly
December, however, for the first time, our every-once-in-a-while activity didn’t follow through
as it used to. Only mom and dad were the ones who visited my grandparents’ house for this
occasion. Although I was reluctantly left bewildered, I just thought that maybe the temperature
was too unbearable and dangerous to withstand in that area so I just followed my parents’ order
to stay home.

That gradually didn’t seem to be the case at it continued for a few more months. It even reached
the point wherein even my parents stopped visiting. Unable to hold myself back anymore, I took
the courage to ask my parents about what the possible reason might be. “Mom, Dad, why aren’t
we visiting grandpa and grandma anymore?” Their smiling faces of inquiry transitioned into a
broken one and left me with a good amount of silence. My father then cleared his throat and
spoke up slowly—and so I found out the sorrowful truth. I was left speechless; I didn’t know
what to say. I just stood there and froze, and after a few moments, eventually broke down crying,
thinking ‘bout the thought of not having another “next time”.

Then it hit me. I just realized something. After all this time, maybe the brightest star—wasn’t an
actual star, but a pure soul; in the shape of a person, who’d always be walking me through the
stars.