i think a lot of people regard the scale of the universe as something scary, that its size means we're insignificant.
but i took notice of the beauty of the tiny water droplets left on the tiny hairs on my arm from the raindrops the other day.
i have never felt the scale of the universe as something to fear.
we are all so close to each other.
there is all of this grand universe of unknowable proportion, and you have a favorite food. and a favorite smell. and a favorite person. and people who love you. we have picnics and we sing songs and we make food for people we love.
we leave signs to tell the universe we are here. two golden records attached to objects we sent as far into space as we could, containing our languages, our music, sounds of earth and its animals, the sound of a kiss and the brainwaves of someone thinking about what it feels like to fall in love, along with instructions on how to find us if the records ever reach someone who can figure it out. we have been broadcasting signals into space, intentionally or otherwise, for over a century, forming a sphere around us 200 lightyears in diameter. even our constellations, because they are interpretations of stars from our perspective here on earth, paint a map pointing directly at us. saying we are here. there is love here.