It took about an hour to get out of the city and out to the field. She tried to distract herself with music, but her nerves just wouldn’t calm down. This was the first time she had done anything like this since her parents died in the accident two years prior. She pulled into the field, grabbed a blanket and pillow, and hopped out of her car. She took care to find a nice spot to put the blanket and pillow down, before laying down and staring up at the clear sky glittering with stars. Somewhere out there were her parents… or their grave, at least.

She sighed. Here goes, she thought.

“Hey mom, hey dad, I…” she paused, her face burning. Why’s this so difficult?

She tried again. “Mom, dad… I… I miss you so much.”

Tears welled up in her eyes.

“I’m not angry with you, though. You fulfilled your dream. You got to see Jupiter up close… at least for a short bit.”

The tears were flowing down her face now.

“I’ve started college. Or, well, I start college in a few weeks. I don’t know what I want to do yet, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out.” She sighed. “I wish you were here to help me out, but I want you to know I’m not alone. Aunt Sarah took me in after the accident. She helped convince me to go to college. So, here I am now.”

She lay there for a while, alone with her thoughts, staring at the stars above through teary eyes.

“Okay, I gotta get going. I have work in the morning. Can’t stay out all night with you, right?” She let out a short laugh. “I love you both so much.”

With that she packed up her belongings and headed back into town.

She made the trip out to the field every few months. It got just a little bit easier each time. A couple years into her college adventure, she went out again.

“Hey mom, dad. I… I found a person I like. We’ve been dating for a couple months now. She’s studying biochemistry. She wants to be a researcher. She’s been really great to me. For now, we are taking it slow, but I’m starting to think she might be the one.”

She had a big grin on her face.

“I think I’ve found what I want to do as well. I want to become an astronomer. All this time spent staring up at the stars has made me curious. I want to know more about them. They’ve been my friends this whole time.”

She spent some more time talking to her parents before heading home. Once again, a few years had passed. She had kept up her regular visits with her parents all through that time.

“I’ve got great news for you two,” she said excitedly. “I’ve got into my preferred school for my PhD program! I’m so excited! It won’t be much longer before I can actually do the work I want to. Alex is doing great too. We are having to do the long-distance thing while working on our PhDs, but I think it’s going to work out well. We’ve been supporting each other for years now. We can make it through this, too!”

A few more years pass. The field used changes as she moves, but the habits stick.

“Hey mom and dad… ohh, I’m so nervous to say this. Alex and me… we’re getting married! We found a place where we can both do our work and still live together. I’m so happy! It’s just… it’s bittersweet, you know? I wish you two could meet her. I wish you could join us at our wedding. But some things just aren’t meant to be, are they?”

She left with tears in her eyes, but a feeling of satisfaction. More years passed, her visits just as frequent as always.

“I hope you two are doing good wherever you are now. Me and Alex have really settled into things. We got a couple kittens recently. They are super playful! One is named Riley and the other is Cinnamon. They keep us company when one of us has to stay late at work.” Many years pass. Her visits are less frequent nowadays.

“Hey there. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Sorry about that. It’s harder to get out here since the illness. I’m just glad that it spared Alex. It really tore through the world. We’re lucky it wasn’t super deadly. We’ve recently adopted a couple of older cats. Riley and Cinnamon passed just a few months apart recently. The new cats are Cardamom and Rosé. They’re three years old and siblings.”

More years pass, as she makes her last visit.

“Hey mom, hey dad… this is… well, goodbye I think. With what the illness did to me so many years ago and my age now, I don’t think I can keep making this trip anymore. I love you so much and hope that soon, I’ll be joining you too, wherever you are. But for now, this is goodbye.”

She spent several hours staring at the stars, before she left for the last time.