A journey to the edge of the Universe

A journey to the restaurant at the edge of the Universe.

I have other dreams that take me to the edge of our reality and my experiences aren't always what I had hoped when I drifted into sleep.

Like the time I went to the edge of the Universe.  My diary written after my return to wakefulness often has a strange quality but despite that my report on that journey sums up the reasons why I continue to go.

I began with "Well I'm here and I'm disappointed."

The brochure had said, "Exciting! Wonderful! A once in a lifetime experience! Sit at a table at the edge of the Universe and see what lies beyond."

And I went on to write:

"There is nothing to see. I mean not even a notable blackness or a void. The sky is filled with as many stars as I saw whenever I was brave enough to go outdoors at night at home. Yes the sky is different but all the same stars are there even though changed in size and brightness.

No! That's not quite true. Some of the older stars are gone but they will return when I go home. "

I guess I've learnt something for I now know the missing stars came to an end long ago and will eventually disappear from my home sky. But I won't live long enough for that.

And there is something that offered me release during the long hours I spent in that visionary place doing nothing else but stare at the sky looking for those differences that were supposed to excite me.

It was harder to find the stars I know; those with which I am most familiar were redder smaller and in different places in the sky. That makes it hard but it was made even more difficult because there were some brighter stars that I had never seen before. And in that dream I knew these would disappear when I return home.

Now awake I am aware that many stars I see are long-gone. Their image is only history catching up with the here and now. And if I stayed long enough in this place they will disappear. But I can't of course hang around that long.