Celestial saga (or silliness...you be the judge...)

I suddenly realized last week, with a jolt of alarm, that we were down to ONE last opportunity for a Friday Field Trip before Derek went off to college. However, when I told the boys that I wanted to do something with them, they stared at me blankly. "What did you have in mind?" Derek finally asked, tentatively, while Riley sighed slightly and added, "Does it have to be a battlefield?" I assured them that our excursion could be whatever they wanted...at which point Derek firmly declared, "Wet and Wild, then!" Riley readily agreed, but as it turned out, no one really had the whole day to devote to a water park an hour away, so it fell upon me to come up with an alternative, less-time-consuming-but-still-entertaining activity.

I don't honestly remember how it came to me, but while wracking my brain for ideas, the thought popped up that we STILL hadn't visited the Morehead Planetarium, which is right on UNC's campus, a mere 3 miles away. It's something I've wanted to do since we moved to Chapel Hill 4 years ago, but somehow we'd never gotten around to it yet. Well, now seemed the perfect excuse to do so.

Oh, yeah...except for the teensy tiny fact that it happened to be Move-In Day for the university. Therefore, both the grounds and the town itself were...how shall I put this...a freakin' zoo. Full of pedestrians wandering aimlessly and cars being piloted by people who clearly had no idea where they were going...and us, attempting to negotiate the madhouse.

Fortunately, WE knew where we were headed, and had left plenty of extra time to account for buying tickets, so it was all good. We even had a few minutes to browse the gift shop while we waited, amusing ourselves with the freeze-dried ice cream, Albert Einstein t-shirts, miniature solar system models, assorted stuffed dinosaur toys, and my absolute favorite souvenir...perhaps of all time...the mug pictured here. I mean--c'mon, folks, how could you possibly resist drinking your morning java out of a cup that demonstrates the effects of climate change when filled with the hot liquid? It's like the most inspired combination of informative...kitschy...and pedantic! (I did not purchase one...this time. I may very well own one in the near future, though--Christmas is coming, after all!)

And then there was the moment when, while glancing through the small selection of books, I noticed one written about physics, for kids. Now, I should mention here that Riley has recently become fascinated by this topic (for reasons completely unknown to the rest of us, but we just go with it because, you know...it keeps him off the streets...or whatever...) and has spent a good deal of time this Summer reading about it on his own...for funsies. (Me, I just pick up a magazine--but to each his own, yeah?) So when I pointed out the text, I jokingly enthused, "And look, it even has a section on String Theory!" I assumed this would elicit either a patronizing chuckle or an eye roll from one or both of the guys...but what actually happened was that Riley gave a casual shrug and remarked, "I'm not a big believer in String Theory."

I'm sorry, WHAT? I'm telling you, it was like a cartoon, y'all. Derek's and my heads whipped around, our eyes met, and our mouths dropped open at the same time, as we stood, flabbergasted by this unexpected and outrageous pronouncement. Derek seemed struck speechless, but I just had to ask, "Um...sure. Whhhyyy?" Riley went on to explain that no one has been able to prove it definitively, and furthermore, it's meant to--in his words--"unify two principles that work just fine by themselves, so it's really unnecessary to create some artificial way to bring them together." Huh. Two thoughts: 1) Imma take your word for it, buddy and 2) Memo to me: get this kid started on reruns of The Big Bang Theory, because I think he'd find it a hoot. (And on a side note, I took it a step further and inquired as to how he felt about the mysteriously named "dark matter". He matter-of-factly replied, "Oh, yeah, that's okay; they've been able to see evidence of it." Of course. I'm so relieved. Moving on, then...)

Phew...with that little snippet of pre-show amusement out of the way, we were ready to enter the auditorium for the actual presentation. We settled into our seats and leaned back, scanning the night sky as our guide dimmed the lights to simulate sunset, then continued darkening the dome to reveal stars and planets that are visible to us right now in the NC heavens. I was immediately rapt and lost in wonder...'cuz I  just LOVE this kind of stuff.

Over the course of the lecture, the instructor showed us things like how to locate directional north using the stars in the Big Dipper (Seriously, how did I  never learn that before? It's so cool!), the shapes of many constellations in our southeastern Summer sky (which incidentally I've maintained for my entire life were "drawn" by verrrrry drunk "scientists", because I've got news for you, they're Just. A Bunch. Of Dots. You're not fooling anyone, astronomy-dudes...), and some features of the other planets that we've learned with telescopes, and through photos sent back to Earth from robotic space missions. Oh, and lest I forget to mention it, we also discovered that certain dignitaries--namely astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong--had trained in this very facility, before their journey to the moon on Apollo 11. (Ooh, talk about...starstruck! Ha! Sorry...but not really...)

Anyway, It. Was. AWESOME. After we'd gotten our full nerd fix, we grabbed lunch at Chipotle on Franklin Street, for one final Chapel Hill hurrah before heading home. Then the festivities continued into the evening, as the kids had been allowed to choose what they wanted for Derek's Last Family Dinner Until Thanksgiving (since he would be attending a Carolina Courage women's soccer game the next night with a friend). This meant that Husband grilled shrimp and cooked rice for them, and we sat around the table together, recognizing that this scenario probably wouldn't happen again for almost 3 months. (Not. Crying. Yet...) Then I convinced Derek to hang out and watch Guardians of the Galaxy 2 with me (because it seemed an appropriate ending to our exploring-the-universe day...and also, nothing makes you feel better than adorable Baby Groot, amirite?)

So I'd have to call our chock-full Friday a WIN for Team WestEnders. A little bit of learning, some tasty meals, abundant family bonding. And as an extra special bonus, nobody has to figure out what String Theory is all about...whoo hoo!