Feeling Small in the Vastness

Until we were in our teenage years, my older brother and I shared a bedroom. One night, when I was seven, we lay awake, talking about the enormity of space. I tried to contemplate a galaxy with billions of stars and a universe that expanded forever, perhaps. I remember the fear those thoughts gave me; that I couldn’t comprehend the enormity of space, and that I couldn’t answer the question: if the universe doesn’t go on forever, what’s…