Moon love 🌕💛

Pausing for appreciation

As I was taking my final bites of dinner last night, my sweet and dear neighbor-friends decided to hustle down the street to watch the shuttle/rocket launch to the moon. (Is it a shuttle or is it a rocket? I’m not sure anymore and will google in a moment 😆.) (answer: rocket) 🚀

While they were staring at the sky and imagining every plane could be the moon rocket, I finished my wine, drank a little more of the stir-fry sauce with a spoon, paid the bill, and hustled to catch up with them right in time to see the glow of the rocket as it glided through the striped-clouded sky.

Later that evening I was able to watch the moon-rise. The clouds were so subtle it looked like an eclipse, as if the moon disappeared completely into thin air. Imagine being in the rocket like those astronauts, destination: moon. What a crazy journey!

I spend a lot more time thinking about the sun than I do the moon. The sun is in our faces more constantly during waking hours (literally) which makes it make sense. The sun is a force we have to protect our skin from, shield our eyes from, and it also impacts how we will spend a day, indoors or outdoors. The sun is the star of our lives! (Literally, and figuratively!)

As for the moon, I see her here and there, but I don’t always think much about her. The moon received a lot more attention recently due to the astronauts historical visit, which has me reflecting on her power. The moon impacts our tides, our seasons, our climate - without the moon life would not be as sustainable, or sustainable at all, on this earth. We need the moon more than the moon needs us. (Does she need us at all, or is this a parasitic relationship?)

The moon gives us so much we cannot see, but we feel it. She even makes the roses fuller and more fragrant! We feel the moon in our moods and in our fluids. Are we only takers? Do we give the moon anything? Perhaps we give the moon purpose, but does she even know how much we need her and appreciate her? Maybe the astronauts are going to deliver some love letters so she knows how incredibly grateful we are for her gifts?! 💌

As I’m writing this I’m at the park and I hear the birds crisply chirping. The other day there were nine baby ducks in the park, perhaps the birds are waking them up soon and I can start my counting game again. (Within a short amount of time I saw them - they are awake, and there are eight!)

I can see the moon behind the clouds and she is incredibly bright. She was completely full around seven hours ago, her brilliance still vivid.

We humans have a lot to be grateful for. Some of it is in our face and we can clearly see it. Some of what makes our lives work so well we can only feel and choose to imagine good intentions and positive power.

💌Dear Moon, thank you for all that you do for us to keep us literally grounded, our trees & our oceans healthy, & for lighting up the night for those who share this earth and are nocturnal by nature. Thank you for being there for us humans for hundreds of thousands of years, tilting, pulling, shifting, and gracing us with your divinity. Before we humans understood you through a scientific lens, we imagined a team of Gods doing your work for you. Now we know it is just you, a globe that sometimes looks like the face of a man, shining down on us from 238,900 miles away. We belong to you. You are like a fierce mother protecting her children. How can we ever repay you? We owe you our lives. Please protect the astronauts who are visiting you, and please help them return safely to your beloved planet earth. 🙏🏻🚀🙏🏻

ps I just ran into some friendly morning walkers I see regularly. We don’t always stop to chat, but this morning we had a lot to talk about between the moon and the ducks. His camera captured the ducks & the moon brilliantly!