Learning to love constellations

I had always thought that constellations were a stupid idea. Humans seeing patterns that aren't really there. Linking together stars that are really massive distances apart in 3-D space. But I've recently spent time out at night learning my constellations. Delphinus is one that I've learned to identify in the last week. By learning the constellations I have begun to be able to find my way round the night sky. The patterns divide up the sky and make it possible for me to identify individual stars. I have found mu-Cephei in the constellation Cepheus. Herschel called it the Garnet Star. It is a deep red and is a huge red giant - they say one of the most luminous objects we can see though tiny because of how far away it is. Constellations have helped me to do this!