At a distance of nine light years, Sirius is one of the brightest well-known stars visible in the northern hemisphere that is close enough that its distance is something we can easily wrap our heads around in terms of a human lifetime.
Every winter with the appearance of the star on the eastern horizon, I think back to what I was doing nine years ago when the light I'm seeing now first departed Sirius on its journey outward.
This year that would be 2012. Ben and I had been in Denver a little over a year.