Ticket 2 Ride

I would look at the night sky when Zeus and I were in the yard. That big planet in the sky, I knew it well. Jupiter.

Ironic that the dog and planet have many similarities in Proto-Indo-European mythology. King of gods, and the god of thunder, and both are a sky father. Impressive.

I never paid much attention to that big object in the sky, until I took an astronomy class as a college freshman. Jupiter is magnificent in the autumn sky. That was 49 years ago, most of my life, but just a blip in time to the Roman god. Ever since, I have looked to the early autumn sky in particular for a sign of the giant planet. That astronomy class reignited my interest in the universe and was partially responsible for a seismic shift in my worldview and outward perspective. College tends to do that, taking the kid from the cocoon and introducing the world and beyond.

All of this wonderful knowledge courtesy of a liberal arts education. Isn’t that just a waste of time and money? That’s not a career. The older I get, the more that I draw on that education. In particular, science, literature, history and philosophy were the subjects in my undergraduate college years that opened my eyes to the world: past present and beyond the stars.

My friends and I used to sit and look up at the night sky. Teenagers with our lives in front of us. Blank pages, ready to be filled in with life experiences, branches sprouting skyward in search of the horizon.

College allowed us our first views of the heavens, from the roof of Lindley Hall. Portable telescopes were set up for students to view objects in the night sky as part of our astronomy lab class. On rare occasion,we looked through the big telescope in the observatory. This was the 1929 telescope that Clyde Tombaugh (the discoverer of Pluto) used for his college study.

The sky changes nightly, sometimes a rain-out, other times hidden from view, always somewhere above us mortals. The first time you see a planet is a breathtaking encounter. Stars are plentiful in the heavens; planets are special. Each has a distinct appearance and personality. I wonder what the early astronomers first thought when they discovered the planets. Science and mythology are strange bedfellows.

That brings me to Zeus.

Zeus of course is the black lab that I have written extensively about. I came into his life when he was a senior dog. College might have opened my mind, but Zeus opened my heart. Zeus was a rescue and he sure rescued me. One might expect a dog named Zeus to be big and powerful, statuesque and commanding. Yes, he was all of that in his quiet, dignified and majestic way.

Zeus has passed since I started writing this blog (almost 18 months ago). For a dog, Zeusy lived an exalted life. He spread love and his behavior was princely. In his old age he was noble and kindly. He is now among the heavens, no doubt watching over us.

When I now look at the sky, standing in Zeus’s backyard, I feel he is there, patrolling his kingdom. In the day, being a sky father, Zeus is associated with a Sun god, which suited Zeusy well as he loved laying in the afternoon sun.

There will be a day that I no longer look to the sky, but Jupiter will be there. Perhaps Zeus and I will be talking a stroll around the universe.