I awaken at around 5AM anyway , but on the appointed pre-dawn morning I simply had to force myself into doing my sometimes daily N.Y.-speed walk exercise out to the nearby wooded area where home construction has begun and see what I catch an eyeful of seeing as how I was excited by the crystal clear sky ( the previous night sky was throroughly cloued over )
I wondered if I had missed the better part of it all when a long streak of shooting star beckoned me on and I knew this rustling from my the warmth of my nest was going to be worht it after.

The paved road through to the area that I speed-walked to is cut through an old stand of atleast 8-to10 story trees and , once I walked to the end of that unfinished street I immideiately jaunted up to a hillock for the best tree-encompassed 360 degree vista of the sky. The view was perfect if just because , by the time I got there ,5:45 AM , the full moon had descended below the treeline as the first outer rings of dawn's event horizon had begun in the opposite quarter of that 360 sky.

What I did not see was something as spectacular as an Aurora Bourealis show, but I saw more very clear shooting star "sky writing" signatures in 30 mins than I've seen in my entire life including my magical first experience of the nightsky on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon mid-September 2001.
Being my "personal" moment I was inspired to spend it as I chose and being on the threshold of , what is atleast for me , the joyous Christmas season, I was inspired to pray for Peace and Light to advance healing in the various flashpoints of hatred and violence ripping at the greater sacred fabric of life in this 21st century world of ours.
I'm sure the Dalia Lama would approve . ;-)