10 The Gift of Hope through Constellations
Grace Kutz
Inspired by “The Gift of Strawberries” in Braiding Sweetgrass
Summary: This is a story of a girl who would take a blanket into her backyard and gaze at the stars. During this time, she would talk about stars with her mother. One night when the little girl was older, she realized that the stories her mother told her as a child were valuable life lessons that she had been living throughout her adulthood.
Keywords: North Star, Hope, Mother, Constellations
When I was little, I remember taking a blanket out to my backyard and looking at the stars. One night, my mother decided to join me. This night with my mother will always be etched into my mind.
It started like any other night. I looked up at the stars, giving them random names like “Mr. Bright” when my mother came out to the backyard.
When I pointed to the star I had just named, my mother stated, “You know that star’s real name is The North Star.”
I turned my head to look at my mother and said, “Why is it named The North Star?”
My mother replied, “The North Star is a way that travelers used to tell the direction in the night sky. It symbolized the hope of getting to their final destination.”
As a child, this idea did not resonate with me because I simply did not understand how a star could symbolize hope.
When I come home from college, my mother always makes a point for us to sit out under the stars. However, it was not until recently that I was reminded of my mother’s lesson about The North Star as a child.
While sitting out on my family’s back porch, my mother turned to me and asked, “Grace, which star can you always find when you look in the sky at night?”
It took me a moment, but I finally responded, “The North Star.”
“What sets it apart from the rest?” she asked with a questioning look.
I had never thought about why this star was significant until then, “I guess it shines brighter than the other ones around,” I replied.
I had only ever thought of this star practically because of my mom’s lesson as a kid. But finally, as an adult, I understood the symbolism she had described to me as a child, and I finally saw how well The North Star represented my life. In a sense, I was traveling through the night with hope as my North Star.
When I finally understood the lesson from my childhood, I had to tell my mother, “I still remember that little lesson about The North Star, but just now realized I can relate to the symbolization of hope.”
She looked confused, as it had been so long ago. “What are you talking about?” she asked.
“The one night you taught me about the true meaning of The North Star and how I should always have hope in my life,” I told her as we continued looking at the stars.
I had realized that throughout my early life, I had hoped that no matter what challenges I faced, I would be okay.
My mother didn’t realize it when she told me, but she gave me a gift that night, the gift of hope through the constellations.
